First Day One on One 

It’s been wonderful having Matt at home to help me parent William these last few weeks. Still, Monday was the day when he had to go back to work and it would just be me one on one with William.

William still has not figured out that night time is sleep time. He also likes to feed every three hours including overnight. So Matt and I had not had a lot of sleep on Sunday night. When I asked Matt if he’d had enough sleep to go back to work, the photo below shows his joking response.

The day was off to a great start as I breastfed William and soon after he fell asleep. I took the advice of everyone and used that time to get some sleep myself.

While I didn’t think being home alone with William would be easy per se, at first I thought the day was going easier than I expected. Unfortunately, this did not stay the case all day long.

William spent a lot of the day awake and crying. Sometimes I could point to a reason why he was crying such as hunger or needing a diaper change. Many times I could not. As he had spent so much time crying, I was grateful for the feeds that ended with him sleeping, such as this one.

I think it’s probable that he just enjoys being held very much, to the point where often if he is awake and not being held he will fuss even if fed and clean. Unfortunately it’s not practical for one person to hold a baby on their arms all day. Sometimes he would accept going in the Mamaroo at my feet as a sleep chair.

Matt and I texted throughout his day at work with me sending him many pictures of the baby. When he texted how he wished he could be at home helping I let him know that it was OK, and how I had William in his sleeper outfit in late day to try to help fool him into taking a longer nap.

As days go on we are both settling in to the fact that for now it’s just me home for a large part of the weekday during the early morning to mid afternoon. I’ve learned I can use the Mamaroo for the times when I need to top off the feedings with a bottle of expressed breast milk or formula.

We definitely have a lot to learn about each other. I’m grateful to be able to have this time at home with him.

~ Danielle