Quote:
Originally Posted by 6793026
Hey, did all of you get time off during the 1st month?
Wife is really wanting me to go off grid for 1st month. I do get a chance to work from home and I do like my job so I thought it might be ok to just periodically log on.
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If you actively help with any of the actual or supportive baby duties, the first month will blow by so fast that you don't even realize it has already been a month. Newborns need to be fed every 2 hours, and they are often quite slow with the feeding at first, with falling asleep while being fed pretty common. So regardless of whether you guys breast or bottle feed, there really isn't a lot of time between feeding sessions, but there is still a mountain pile of stuff to do.
And being first time parents, at first you'd have no idea what you should be doing, so there'll be a lot of trial and error. On top of that, newborns are growing and changing so fast within those first 2 - 3 months that their behaviour and cues are constantly evolving. Just when you think you have finally figured out what this one cue means, things take a turn and he doesn't behave the way he used to in the past week or so. So you are constantly trying to decode what a certain behaviour cue might mean. Is the baby hungry? Is he about to poop? Is he sleepy? Is he too hot? Any and all and more of those could be the reason why he is grumpy, and it is up to you guys to figure out what the little person is trying to tell you through his constantly evolving cues.
For us, my wife went away from work for 3 months, and for me, between using up my annual vacation and parental leave, I stayed home for almost 9 months. Our first 2 weeks were basically an exercise in sleep deprivation survival. Neither of us got any real proper sleep. The exhaustion kicked in so bad that some time in the 3rd or 4th week, both of us passed out on our bed for a 4+ hour nap after the baby went to sleep post feeding. We woke up to the sound of some maddening crying bcos at that point, the baby was more than 2 hours overdue for his feeding, so he must have been really, really hungry. He might have soiled his diaper too -- I don't really remember. But we had no idea how long he had been crying for, other than knowing that it must have been a really long time bcos his voice was all cracked up and coarse by then. We were both ridden with guilt bcos both of us felt like we have failed as parents. At the same time, that 4+ hours nap was the longest we have slept since the baby was born, and I haven't felt that refreshed since the baby came.
So if you are only looking at taking 1 month off, it'll be over before you even know it.
Good luck!