Large babies run in the family. Both my brother and I were large babies. Hubby and his sisters weren’t exactly small babies either. Though my mother never bothered to hide the fact that delivering my brother and me was an experience of hell on Earth, she did add that being large babies made it a lot easier to look after us. For instance, we were both sleeping through the night by the time we were one month old because we could consume more milk (due to our larger stomachs) and sleep longer as a result.
Now that I have had two large babies of my own, I must concur. The pregnancy and labour pains that accompany a large baby are but a faded memory. In his first week at the hospital, Gareth was already experimenting with lifting up his head. While we were at the hospital, although he would stay on the breast for ages during a feed, he could also sleep as much as six hours under the UV lights before coming back to see me again. In his second week, he flipped over in his sleep from his back to his front. On the other hand, the problem with his early mobility is that you also have to worry about him rolling off things. Check out the position he shifted himself into in the photo below…
I suspect that simultaneously nursing both boys has been a lot easier because of Gareth’s neck strength. Since coming home from the hospital, I have been able to nurse both boys simultaneously lying down on my back. I would prop Gareth on a pillow and have his head turned towards me and Gavin would lie on my other arm and nurse on the other breast. If Gareth had been a smaller baby, I’m not sure I would have been so comfortable adopting this nursing position so early.
That said, I’m still not going to have a third…
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