When Baby Is Wide Awake
Sooner or later, your baby is going to want you. Whether she wants food, company, a distraction, or all of these, she's going to call for you. Of course, at her age, that means crying.
First Things First
You'll want to change her diaper, of course, though she may be intent on feeding and may howl through the diaper-changing process. If you're bottle-feeding her, you can accomplish both simultaneously, bringing her a bottle, settling her down on your bed, on her changing table, or in her crib with the side down and changing her diaper while she feeds. If you're nursing her, you can't do it simultaneously with changing her diaper, and she's just going to have to wait until you get the diaper changed. If she's already on cereal or strained food, you may want to offer some of that to her before giving her a bottle or offering her your breast to nurse.
If she's taking a bottle, once you've got her diaper changed, you can hold her while she feeds if you have the time. If she's old enough to hold her own bottle and you're rushing to get dressed, get an older child dressed and fed breakfast, or take care of other morning chores, you can leave her someplace safe to drink her bottle on her own. It's better for two reasons if that place isn't her crib:
You want her to associate the crib with sleeping. Giving her a breakfast bottle there sends the wrong message.
It's good if you can interact with her while she feeds. Even if you're not holding her, you can talk to her. If she's in a secure seat such as a car seat, a swing, or on a quilt in the middle of the floor of whatever room you're in, you can talk to her as you get dressed, make breakfast, or do other tasks.
As she drinks her bottle, or eats her breakfast, or nurses at your breast, she'll become more awake (if she didn't awaken wide-awake at first). If she awakened all agitated because she was once again, as always, confined to her crib and hungry, the bottle or breast will soothe her even while waking her up. A nice bath, though also soothing, can as well be energizing, and you can play with her while she's in the water, splishing and splashing (carefully!) and letting her have fun. It's giggle time, and isn't that grand?
Then, whether you bathe your baby in the morning or not, it's time to get her dressed. “Dressed” may mean pants and a shirt, or a dress, or a “onesies,” or whatever other outfit is appropriate, but get her ready for the day and, unless you're leaving the house with her right away, try to spend a little time playing with her. Get her in a good mood. We all like to start out our mornings on the right foot, and babies are no different.
Don't Rush
If you have limited time in the morning, get up early enough, and be sure that your baby gets up early enough so that you can get her through the early morning's activities without rushing her.
You may need to get up a half hour earlier. You may need to get Baby to bed a half hour earlier so that she wakes up a half hour earlier, too. You may mourn the lost sleep. But which is worse? To lose a half hour's sleep and have a peaceful morning or to sleep that extra half hour but have a hurried, harried, hassled start to your day, with you feeling impatient with Baby and clashing with her because she's dawdling at your breast or playing with her cereal or not cooperating when you try to dress her? You'll both feel the strain. You'll both feel rushed. You'll be at odds with each other. You'll get the day off to a bad start for both of you. Is this worth a half hour's sleep? The luxury of sleeping in a half hour longer is more than offset by the calm you gain by getting an earlier start.
Alert!
If you're hurried and hassled and you're feeding Baby cereal or strained food, you may grow impatient if she eats slowly, balks at eating, or does anything but eat her food with dispatch and efficiency. This sets up a negative connection in her mind with eating, which is not what you want. This is another reason for leaving plenty of time in the morning.
