Friday, June 19, 2009

The newborn honeymoon

I have spoken about it before. The newborn honeymoon. Its the first few weeks after a baby is born, often tricking the first time mom.

It usually consists of the baby sleeping, only waking to eat or be changed. The only complaint tends to be the baby stays awake longer at night, parents determining the baby has his nights mixed up. Which I personally think the baby knows exactly what time of day is it, as most babies, in utero, sleep while mommy is awake, lulled to sleep my the movement, only to be active at night when mommy is trying to sleep. This is only compounded once born, being subjected to the same stimuli, being held, bounced, etc.

Anywho, it makes me laugh that in almost all first time mommy blogs, message boards or in simply talking to most brand new mommies, they will say "my baby is such a good baby..." only to be shown their true nature in a few weeks.

Now, I was also one of these mommies when ella was born. I'm totally not talking smack about anyone without also pointing the finger at myself.

Like I said, I have talked about this before. And each time, I'd always get the handful of comments saying "not ~my~ baby. ~My~ baby stayed a perfect baby." Each me I would see that, I would roll my eyes and say "bullshit". Babies all act like babies. I have seen babies with autism, literally never crying and being a very self content baby, but in general, the baby honeymoon ends.

And then I had karl. While the newborn honeymoon did end, him having a few weeks of crying fits, his temperment, in general, is fucking amazing. He is, what I have rolled my eyes at, a GOOD baby. Its incredible.

He doesn't sleep through the night the majority of the time. But its easy to get him back to sleep. And like the girls, when I see him getting sleepy, all I have to do is lay him in his crib wide awake and he will go to sleep. He doesn't cry much, and when he does cry, all it takes is a smile to get a big smile right back. Its amazing.

I guess the third time is a charm. I apologize for the blatant bragging, but its so amazing, I had to document it. And, of course, admit just how wrong I was when I called bullshit on those other mommies.

You know what it really does? It makes me want a 4th.

17 comments:

Jenera said...

I'm glad he's being awesome for you! Sam is a good baby too-but he also has issues. For the most part he is happy 90% of the time and laughing and smiling. It's just that 10% of the time that always happens at times that so do not work for me.

Sarah said...

That's aweesome!

I know now that I could handle any baby after Andrew's colic and acid reflux-filled first 7 months. When he wasn't sleeping or on the boob, he.was.crying. All the time. Hours on end. I would end up just nursing him even if he wasn't hungry, just because it comforted him.

He didn't like his swing (he liked it for about a week before refusing it, crying if we even got near it). He needed to be manually bounced in his bouncy (we used our feet) because the vibration alone was not enough.

Baby #2 can have any personality and I know I can handle it, having been through what we went through with Andrew. However, I'd love to have a baby like Karl! :)

Lisa said...

I am so happy that Karl is a good baby. With all that you've been through in the last little while maybe this is helping to balance things out?

The boys are also good babies. They are almost always happy and generally only cry for a specific reason. It's just that sometimes it takes me a while to figure out exactly what that is. They just recently started to sleep through the night but even leading up to this point, when they woke up, it was brief. Since they were 4 months old, we've always been able to put them down to sleep awake. It is such a blessing. And when they wake up, they generally play for 30 minutes or so while I get up and going. It's great!

I hope you are recovering well from your surgery... take care!

areyoukiddingme said...

I'm glad he's giving you an easy time. My girl had some sleep issues, but overall was really easy. I was so lucky.

Kristin said...

You are so lucky. My kids have gotten progressively more stubborn and hard headed. And, Gabe outdoes his brothers tenfold as the family wild child. And, despite this, I want a fourth.

Birdee said...

Heh- I was thinking "No- not my son really" just before I read the part "Not my baby", so then I took a second look at what I can remember. And I even remember watching my friend’s kids and how they struggled, some more than others, and I remember thinking with him "I'm so glad I got an easier baby" (Key word, easi"ER").
I do remember a few times of him being difficult and me not knowing when it was going to end. But it was few and far between. Mostly he'd just be awake at night, but not crying. (He had his evening dinner time cry's where he just needed to get it out but not colic or anything like that,.
So I'm glad you've seen a different side and commented on it. I'm never sure the degree someone is talking about when they say "Hard" or "difficult". I just know to me, I felt my son was an easy baby, and I was lucky.

Jamie said...

Newborn honeymoon? *SIGH* Thanks for ruining it for me, Nancy. ;)

Beautiful Mess said...

That's great that you have a "GOOD baby"! I never had the gift of a "GOOD baby" but I am glad they do exist.
*HUGS*

Molly said...

My boy was pretty "good" by those standards. He did have his moments where he was just mad mad mad, but in general he was pleasant and easy to interpret. I thought that he was just the most perfect child. Payback's a bitch because we started in with the cancer stuff at 10 months...hope it never happens to anyone else. I honestly thought that I was being punished for thinking that my kid was so great. This time I might be in for it either way, because any day now boy #2 is coming and even if he is "perfect" I still have boy #1 and his issues.

Kelly said...

I'm so in the newborn honeymoon phase with Makenna. She is a very good baby but I've read enough about the honeymoon period to know that this is not her personality just her age. She does have her drama queen moments so I'm guessing that will become more frequent as she gets older... We'll see:)
I'm glad Karl is a good baby! How's the bf-ing going? Any luck from him yet?

Carrie Ann said...

That's awesome!! My baby, on the other hand, has me up 5x a night - at least!!! I'm working through other issues too - he likes to nurse to sleep, so when he wakes in the middle of the night, I think he's hungry so I nurse (uniboober baby), etc etc. I think this will take me a while to figure out. Hope you're feeling better.

Elana Kahn said...

The twins are both relatively good. I'd say the girl moreso than the boy. My son is generally grumpy when he's awake (although not all the time) and loves to be rocked and held. My daughter is happy just to suck on a pacifier and watch the world. But they both sleep VERY well. They are generally quiet once you've put them to bed and will fall asleep on their own without any help. The only exception is if my daughter isn't tired when you put her to bed, she'll be upset when her pacifier falls out of her mouth and you have to go and retrieve it for her. Otherwise, she's a gem.

Robin said...

I had a very good baby, but then again, now I know why...! I'm happy Karl is a sweetie. You're right- third times the charm!

Jen said...

Personally, I'm jealous of anybody who got a newborn honeymoon. Jillian was awake and crying from the very beginning...even in the hospital. The nurses were offering to take her for me because I got no sleep as she was awake and crying more often than not. I'm glad that she is much easier to handle now!

Anonymous said...

Not to brag, but both my kids have been great. The youngest is only 4 months, but still. I wanted a third as soon as she was born.

Liz said...

I have been feeling the same way with my little guy. I keep waiting for the honeymoon to end, but he's a fantastic baby! I feel very lucky (and way too anxious for #3!).

Takoma Volpe said...

Hey - I popped over from Jules site and I LOVE this post! I'm due with #3 in October, and I so hope this is my easy baby. Both my girls were colicky and my first was never an easy baby.
Never.
Not from day one. (She was like your friend Sarah R's Andrew, from the sounds of it.)
I thought #2 was easier, but yes, the babymoon ended. So, thanks for sharing that #3 has been the easiest - you're not the first who has said that, so maybe it'll be true for me, too.