YOUR THIRD CHILD

We had our third child five years after our second, purposely! I know crazy!!

The way we are doing things with our third child compared to our first child are drastically different, at least in my case.

Here are some things I did differently:

1. I let the baby sleep! I did not wake him up every 3 hours to feed, if he was hungry he would wake up and let me know.
2. I didn’t fuss over every thing! If the dog licked his face, it wasn’t a big deal. If his soother fell on the floor, I didn’t sterilize it, just a quick wipe with a cloth.
3. I didn’t pay attention to when he was supposed to start crawling/standing/walking. As long as he got around to it and the doctor’s were not worried, I didn’t worry. Actually I secretly wished he would take longer to walk because as some of you know, as soon as they walk, they want to run and that means fights to stay in a stroller, car seat, chair, etc.
4. I wasn’t worried about if he was getting the exact amount of solids recommended, but would listen to him when he didn’t want anymore solid food and just wanted his formula.
5. NAPPING!!! It didn’t bug me if he slept longer or less during his naps. By bug I mean I didn’t have to check on him if he went past two hours and just realized he either didn’t get enough sleep during the night or was growing.
6. Freedom!! I didn’t feel the need to be constantly be entertaining my third baby. He was perfectly happy playing with some toys on his own, while I got some stuff done like tidying up, folding laundry or getting a meal prepared. He was always in the same room as me but very very happy to be playing on his own.
7. Toys. Most toys were hand me downs from my older son and daughter. He didn’t need the newest most educational toy out there. He was happy just playing with cars, hockey sticks and balls.
8. Waking up at night. My third child was the complete opposite then my older two at night. He didn’t start sleeping through the night until 2 years old and even then would wake up crying at some points. I have learned that letting them put them self back to sleep works the best.

There were certain things I did do the same as the older kids. I am very keen on routines. Mainly a nighttime routine, such as bath, pajamas, brush teeth, read a story and then bedtime. This seemed to work for all three kids as they would go to sleep fairly quickly after laying them down in bed.

Until next time.

Your Introverted Momma