First session of a post-natal group, arranged by the NHS, took place at the hospital at 10 to 12 this morning. Involved me taking Jessica, and the pram, on one of the the local buses for the first time. This went really well, though – not too busy on the bus (something I’d been a bit concerned about) so the pram fitted in well onboard. Jessica was a bit grizzly in the morning after feeding – seemingly out of tiredness, although she had only woken up a little while earlier. But then I have noticed a few times recently that she sometimes lies awake in her cot, quietly sucking her hand and looking out into the dark of the room, so maybe she spends a fair amount of the night actually awake…? She goes back to sleep on her own, though – she must be, as she stirs and wakes later in the morning when she wants breakfast (that’s at 5 or 5.30am almost every night now).
We were a few minutes late to the post-natal group session but we weren’t the last ones to arrive. Jessica slept through the whole thing, which was noted on by a few other mums (“oh, your baby’s good!”): there were lots of babies in the room and they all cried for attention at some point, quite often several of them at the same time… As a natural consequence the session got a bit disjointed, with different mums having to get up and pace, rattle toys or breastfeed during the two hours we were there. I didn’t learn much new stuff, really – a lot of it was basic stuff I’d already heard, read or experienced myself – and I guess the main purpose of the group is social rather than educational. Though one session will involve baby massage and another weaning, so I may learn something new then.
An excellent way Ian’s found to calm Jessica down when she’s upset is rocking her on his lap this way around:
Trying to help Jessica lie on her front involves rolling up a towel or blanket:
As she is getting more and more bored with lying on her back, Jessica is enjoying sitting in her baby bouncer instead, so I put her in it a couple of times a day. Sometimes she likes just sitting there on her own, looking out over the room and making little noises to herself, sometimes I sit down with her and we have a ‘conversation’ or I sing to her: she likes “Imse vimse spindel” (‘incy wincy spider’), which I do complete with hand movements, and very often smiles broadly or giggles when the spider is up at the top.
Gabriella