Going Back to Work

For the next 2 weeks I was focused on training baby Valerie to take the bottle daytime in preparation to going back to work. Compared to the 1 bottle feed a day, she now had to take 4 bottle feeds, this actually gave me more work.

First I needed to feed her every 2 hours, burp her, wash the bottle and then try to schedule milk expressing time. It's a lot more work compared to direct breastfeeding but I didn't mind. This training was required to ensure smooth transitioning to nanny. What's tough was really finding time to express milk while entertaining Valerie.

Well, baby Valerie was still pretty much a high-demanding baby who needed my 100% focus and attention throughout the day. I know they say you shouldn't spoil a baby by carrying her or accompanying her all the time. But being a first time mom, I just responded to her cry every time. I did try to ignore her, but that got her even moodier and harder to handle. So I chose the 'no-cry' baby approach.

The training went well for 2 weeks and we were ready to pass her over to nanny on my first day back to work. We were a little anxious leaving our precious baby with a stranger for the first time. The nanny was very understanding and reassured us Valerie would be in good hands.

Halfway through the day, Ivan urged me to give nanny a call to find out how she was doing. The first thing that nanny complained was how attention seeking my baby was. Valerie would cry to be held and she would play around with the bottle when offered. Also, she hardly took long naps. Max about 30 mins, she would wake up. I smiled sheepishly, although nanny didn't say the mommy spoil her, I knew she indicated that.

When we picked her up in the evening, we noticed Valerie was a lot quieter than usual. She didn't cry that much to be held. Somehow having a nanny helped to 'train' her to be less clingy. Still, we kinda miss our 'noisy' baby when left alone for barely 5 minutes :P