claire: nope, what's Wink? ok I have to admit that I've shelved the flashcards for a while. My sense is that it is really too early for Ems. I decided to trust my motherly instinct (!) and stop this for the time being. I may start again in a few months' time. Good that Matt is able to sleep with the aid of the pacifier; hopefully as he gets older, he'll be able to find it himself in the middle of the night without having to wake you up.
jillian/claire: After our very fleeting "success" with the pacifier for the morning nap, Ems showed no interest in it for her later sleep sessions. So much for that!
Thank goodness PU/PD seems to be working (see below).
jules: Hmmm, thanks for reminding me! I still have an avocado ready for the eating
Will try that out tomorrow and see. Papaya ok to give as well? Cool! Should I steam it first or give it raw and mashed?
My PD asked me to avoid bananas for now, not entirely sure why. But I think someone here was telling us to avoid BRAT (the B is "bananas" right?) - can someone pls remind this blur mummy why to avoid BRAT?
cheok: thanks for the info re corn. I'm a flashcard failure, babe, whatever would Glenn Doman say? heh
amber: yuppers! I definitely agree that we all have to find our right balance based on our own needs and temperament and the needs and temperament of the babies we've been blessed with. I'm a bit of a pick-and-choose mum myself; I look at the books on my shelf - some would be considered the bible of the attachment parenting types; others would be considered sheer heresy. I have everything!
If only each and every baby came with his/her own personalised manual - pre-set routine, feeding instructions, play textbook etc. But then life wouldn't be so exciting huh?
PU/PD Update
It's really surprising me but we seem to be getting somewhere with this. Successfully PU/PD-ed at three naps today (morning, lunchtime and 4pm) but only to start the nap and not to lengthen the nap - (just couldn't bring myself to try lengthening the naps today and decided not to bite off more than I could chew for the first day).
In the evening, I brought Ems for a swim, bathed her, breastfed her and she went out to say hi to my parents who were over for dinner. Then at 7:30pm, hb took her into her room, patted her for a few mins while she sucked on her thumb, then put her into the cot fully awake. She cried a bit but he patted her (just like what I did today), and walked out while she was half awake...and she went to bed.
She woke up 45 mins later. I immediately gave her 180ml of FM and she went straight back to bed (hb followed the same procedure, taking care to ensure that she was still awake, though drowsy, when he left the room). She was asleep by 8:30pm. And she's been asleep since, which is a real shocker. This despite all the noise that's been around because we had a dinner party at my place. A few times, when she comes into light sleep, she'll yell out or cry for 10 sec and then she goes back to bed. Dare I say this is SELF-SETTLING?!?!
Naturally it's too early to say where all this will take us. But I must be hopeful! Let's hope for a good night tonight.