Now be quiet, don’t wake up the hungry baby.
Is there a part of raising a new baby that you really dislike, even hate? I know, it is wrong to say you hate something when it comes to your own child and there will be those who blast me for even saying it.
Well the one thing that I hate and can say with full disclosure, is the 15 minutes before we go to bed.
This is the time of the night where we are done watching the little TV we get to see and also the time of night we wake the baby, who is either sleeping on my wife, on the couch or the odd time on me.
This is the part of the evening where he REALLY wants to eat and have his midnight snack before dozing off for another six to seven hours. Yes, I know, my am actually complaining even though we have a boy who sleeps through the night.
The time, usually 11pm to 11:20ish is like being in a movie where we have to launch, follow through and end a covert mission to try to keep the boy from total meltdown.
Thanks to the recent movie that is trending around the universe, Zero Dark Thirty, I have kind of coined the mission as Zero Dark Charlie.
Before, we would both go up together and I would try to keep the little guy calm while my wife had 10 minutes to herself to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. Seems fair right?
But the tantrum is epic. It is easily is most needed cry of the whole day. I get it, we just woke you up and you are hungry.
Anyways, this system was not working. My wife did not get to have any peace and then there is a baby trying to feed while so worked up, it sounds like he is hyper ventilating while eating.
So we switched it up and so far, this system is better. Better but not great. Still my least favourite part of the day when it comes to the baby.
Now I send my wife off on a scouting mission, five or 10 minutes ahead of me. She gets to do her night-time routine with a little peace and dignity, while I hang out downstairs trying to keep the pin in the ticking bomb.
By the time I get upstairs and change the baby, if the mission is on point, my wife is in bed waiting for the lord of the manner. It has happened a few nights were everything was somewhat calm. Makes a big difference for everyone.
The next operation Zero Dark Charlie is switching him to a normal bedtime in his crib. He is in a bassinet next to the bed now.
Ideally we start putting him to bed at the same time as our three-year old. The only difference with this is, dusting off the baby walkie-talkie for easy listening.
Sure there will still be a lot of running up the stairs to check and help put the baby back to sleep, but the 11:15pm hungry screams may end.
Do you have a similar story from your days of baby raising?
I want to finish by saying, we have a very easy-going kid. In fact, two easy-going kids. So we are lucky.
If this 15 minutes of annoyance is the worst part of parenting, well we are extremely lucky.
But, it is okay to complain and vent about the little things as well. That is part of the parenting membership right?
