Casey sleeping on a bench at the pub, originally uploaded by Br3nda.

Casey got tired after all that OLPC XO 1.5 testing at the pub on Saturday.

Here she is having a power nap on a bench at the Southern Cross.

If you're having a baby, i VERY HIGHLY recommend this book:

The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep Twelve Hours a Night.

The author, i suspect, is not a natural English speaker, so the words do not flow and it can be a hard read at times (and the examples are tediously boring, they put anyone to sleep) - but the technique she is describing worked a treat. It was hard work, much harder than just rocking/feeding the baby back to sleep again at 3am, but it paid off.

Best of all, for your heartstrings, it doesn't involve leaving a baby to cry. It involves routine, routine, routine, varying for day versus night; weighing the baby lots (you don't leave a baby to sleep unless they're gaining weight); distraction (different techniques for day and for night); and always putting baby to bed while still awake so they learn how to get themselves back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night.

But, not a useful book if you're co-sleeping or wanting the baby to sleep on you.

Casey is now 9 weeks old, and has been an 11 hour sleeper since about week 6 - she appears to have dropped the middle of the night feeding now. She sleeps from 8pm, and i have to wake her up at 7am.

For her next trick, special 6pm bedtimes when there's a babysitter... still working on that.

and now a baby photo:

should I be finding out the signs in Baby Sign, to teach Casey - or should i just use New Zealand Sign Language?

Does Baby sign vary from place to place, or is it somebody's trademark? My cursory look at a book in the bookstore didn't really explain much - the signs I saw appear simplified NZSL, but may be based on American SL for all i know.

I'd love for Casey to know NZSL from a young age - but my husband doesn't sign, so i'm gonna need to get my sister and mother to visit much more often (hint! hint!)

Please comment if you've done either - Babysign or NZSL (or other SL) for your hearing baby in a hearing household - I'm curious to know things like what age they start to work out the more complex two handed signs.

and now, a gratuitous Casey photo:

We're looking around for daycare for little Casey. I gather there's significant waiting lists for the good places, hence we're looking now.

Got anywhere to recommend? somewhere to avoid? got any tips for telling the difference?

i was late to work today (food poisoning all night, not fun), so it was me that answered the phone at 9am.

background info: plunket is new zealand's non-government community support service for babies/infants.

them> I'm calling from plunket. we have a weekly mothers group starting up at [2 blocks from my house], for mothers with babies the same age as your Casey
me> I'm working fulltime right now, would it be at a time i'm likely to get there?
them> oh, no, it's in the middle of the afternoon. oh well, i can still add you to the mailing list.
me> well, my husband is a fulltime father, is he welcome at this group?
them> oh yes, it's for parents, even though i said mothers. we should change the name. infact i'm changing it right now. it's a parents group, not a mothers groups.

heh.

I'm back at work now, and the "breastfeeding" continues - i'm pumping the boobies 3 times a day, including all the sterilizing everything in the work kitchen. This has resulted in many conversations in the kitchen, with various working fathers and mothers, on the political world of formula versus breastmilk, and some awful first hand stories of how ashamed they were of not doing 100% breastmilk.

I think it would be good to have more public statements from mothers who did less than 100% breastmilk - you do the best you can, and formula is not the evil some people think it is.

Some people can't, because of milk supply, or they have to work to pay the rent, and I'd like to see more support of those that don't achieve 100% breastfeeding.

If you post a question or statement online (like this blog post) on formula you attract comments/replies, including some reasonable and helpful ones, but also including the "you can tell my kids are breastfed because they didn't die from cot death" statements, and other loveliness. Being a new parent is full of worry, so these eat away at anyone's confidence and selfworth.

We've chosen to do as much breastmilk as possible, but there's a choice we've made to use formula. There are government funded campaigns to ensure that any mother who does that feels as much guilt as can be instilled via national advert campaign on multiple media.