In further expected news, my daughter is wonderful.

[reddragdiva]

reddragdiva: um, i'm wondering "when does this start feeling like work"
reddragdiva: then i realised that i have no hope of a sleep cycle for a while
ozjester: When you have been without sleep for weeks rather than days, when your child cries for hours and you don't know how to handle it, when you both realise that a sex life is something for single people and couples without kids, when finally you do have the time and the slightest inclination to get intimate you'd both choose sleep over sex.
ozjester: But when your baby looks at you both, smiles, gurgles, grabs your little finger and melts your hearts with her innocent joy at being with her parents, then all of the burdens melt away in the total appreciation and unconditional love she has for you.
reddragdiva: oh yes :-)

So far I've been doing a Metric Fuckload of housework instead of nappy duty. Nappy changing appears to be a variety of tech support, except babies don't lie like users and Freda only cries and whinges when there's actually something wrong.

I am so glad this is on-call week. If I could work from home for a livable income ... seph_hazard is visiting tomorrow to help alleviate the stir-craziness and assist in beating the house up.

You're only being spared four-hourly "my daughter is so wonderful" posts by my utter lack of time.

Comments

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

She has a nappy alarm?

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, it's on the front of her head.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Audible and olfactory warnings.

[yellowrocket.livejournal.com]

*nods sagely, from the safety of 250 miles distance*

Yes.
They leak from both ends and have no volume knob.
This we know :-)

[karen2205]

Nappy changing appears to be a variety of tech support, except babies don't lie like users and Freda only cries and whinges when there's actually something wrong.

*smiles* - yeah tis a special variety of tech support. Things to watch out for (1) not getting the cream on the sticky tabs of disposible nappies 'cos they won't stick (and no, duck tape is not an acceptable solution!), (2) wandering baby hands in the contents of the nappy, (3) not stabbing the baby with the safety pin (if using the sorts of cloth nappies that use pins), (4) using the right sized nappy for the baby - otherwise you get nappy-falling-off or poo-escaping-from-nappy errors.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

In answer to (1), the simplest solution is to never leave the baby in a wet or dirty nappy - that way nappy rash is avoided and cream is not needed. That said, the nappies we're using (Moltex Oko, compostable recycled-pulp disposable nappies) have tabs that are sticky but also rather similar to velcro, so even if cream did get on them they'd still fasten.

Of more importance in the watching-out stakes is that the moment babies feel cool air on their bottom, they will invariably pee. Usually at the precise moment you're reaching for the clean nappy, whilst there's nothing under their bottom to catch it, thus resulting in a need for a complete change of clothing. Boys are worse for this than girls as with boys you get added sprinkler action, so not only does the baby need a change of clothes - you probably will too.

(As a mother of three who is also the eldest of four children herself, I've had a lot of experience with nappies - cloth, disposables, boys and girls, you name it I've seen it and dealt with it!)

[jauncourt.livejournal.com]

Have you looked into Elimination Communication? It's essentially allowing baby to eliminate into a container whenever possible, thus reducing diaper/nappy usage (of whatever kind - we cloth diapered with our older boy, but BabyJ is much larger WRT age than his brother, so we had none of the right size and had to fall back on disposables for the time being).

I'm on a mailing list that's intended to support people trying this out, and it's very welcoming and non-judgmental. LMK if you'd like a link to it.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Heh. My latest cousin did this, but made the decision all by herself - she pooed at exactly the same time every day, so when she could hold her head up properly my aunt undressed her and held her over the toilet at that time until she had finished. The other aunts greeted this knowledge with "Ooh, you swine".

[txxxpxx.livejournal.com]

Haven't yet had a chance to congratulate you on the safe arrival of your little bundle. Pls pass my wishes on to Arkady also. Hey, it ain't my thing but I'm so glad for you, knowing it is what you wanted.

*hugs*

Pop (Oh & Mr Pxx & Penpuppy too)

[http://users.livejournal.com/raven_/]

More photos pls.

[pfctdayelise.livejournal.com]

aw :)

[barakta]

Belated congratulations on your becoming a father and all going well for you all.

Nappies and base 2

[craig9520.livejournal.com]

http://www.ozclothnappies.org/

It's kind of focussed on Australia and New Zealand but there is presumably lots of good generic advice there too if you're after resources. Given your friends in Australia, I'd be surprised if you hadn't already seen it, particularly if you're using cloth type nappies already.

You didn't mention the other aspect of the comparison of baby with computers. She exists in a boolean state where she is quiet as long as everything is okay. Anything that isn't perfect triggers the alarm.