First kid second kid [84/100]

With the first kid, we didn’t know how to do anything, so we tried to follow all the directions, or look up directions for everything. At the hospital, the nurses said to feed her every 2–3 hours, and not to let her sleep longer than that. So we did. And when we were home and exhausted and we really wanted extra sleep, we called the pediatrician’s advice line to ask if we could let her go up to 4 hours between feedings. And we asked our pediatrician again when we increased it to five and then to not wake her at all. With the second kid, we never woke him up to eat.

With the first kid, we selectively chose a few educational apps and math-ey TV shows — she watched maybe one show a week. With the second kid’s arrival and our subsequent exhaustion, the first kid watched much more TV than I’m proud to admit. And when he also expressed interest in TV, I realized why people say television is a free babysitter.

With the first kid, I was racked with guilt about feeding her milk, nursed or pumped. She didn’t have a drop of formula until she was almost 6 months old. With the second kid, the pediatrician at the hospital mentioned that he would probably be pretty happy with just a teaspoon or so worth of formula so that he wouldn’t be so hungry while waiting for my milk to come in. I immediately called the nurse to ask for formula. “Do you want to speak to a lactation consultant?” she asked. “No. Just bring formula.”

With the first kid, we looked up developmental milestones and worried if she wasn’t ahead on all of them. With the second kid, we just try to keep him fed and alive and hope for the best.