Angel in disguise

Se looks so angelic doesn't she? How could such a sweet little baby cause so much havoc?

Trust me at 1.30am when she's been fed and changed and loved and cuddled and is on her second feed, change and cuddle yet is still screaming, she's demonic! We know its not her fault. She can only communicate through cries. But it can be brutal. Especially on a sleep-deprived new parent.

We haven't stopped since we came home from hospital and naively we've listened to the only people we've come into contact with. Midwives. They all (except one) said feed on demand. If she shows signs of hunger even if she just eaten, feed her again they said. So we did. And she rules over us as a result. Hence, being up all night - every hour sometimes reheating bottles, changing, feeding and trying to resettle her before feeding her again 10 minutes later. At the back of our minds, we did wonder if this was right. Surely there was another way?

So...after a week of hospital, visitors and weddings today was our first day as a family to regroup. And it was also time for me to locate those baby books that sat by my bed untouched throughout my pregnancy in favour of books about pain relief in labour! Incidentally labour now seems a breeze since all the breastfeeding/sleeping drama of the past week. Ironic really!

Where was I? Oh yes, books. From other new parents and friends we had gleaned that there are basically two baby books topping the must-read chart - Gina Ford's Contented Little Baby and The Baby Whisperer. It was the latter we started with.

From the minute we started reading the first chapter, we were slapping our palms across our foreheads. We have been making every classic mistake and are well on the road to letting little Audrey rule our lives instead of fitting her into ours. We need to get her on out schedule and sharpish. Rod, own back etc.

As such, we spent most of the day reading the Baby Whisperer to each other and on the whole, we are already feeling much more confident and equipped for the night ahead. On the flip side, the author Tracy Hogg tells us we have the Grumpy/Touchy baby type. Typical! The most difficult of all the types in the book and the one that presents the most challenges - reluctance to breast feed, hard to settle and put down to sleep, easily bored...it goes on.

My husband and I were both difficult babies (as our parents delight in telling us) so stands to reason I guess. Just Karma doing its thing.