Is this the most 'precious' example of PFB syndrome??

[Ceebee74]

The sister of an acquaintance has a 5 month old DS - since he was born (on the recommendation of the mw), she has kept a daily diary of when he has a bottle, how much he has, when she changes his nappy, if it is wet or dirty (and, if dirty, grades it on a scale of 1-5 stars as to how dirty!), when he is sick and if so how much and also has a section for 'additional information'.

She has started weaning now so has added how much baby rice etc he has had.

And she has done this every day for the last 5 months.

Apologies to anyone who may have done this - but why why why?? Does anyone else think this is a tad extreme?????

My dad still has the book (33 YEARS later) that chronicles my every poo, wee, feed etc. He got it out a couple of years ago and showed me all damp-eyed - look at this, 5pm poo (big) 6.30pm 7oz feed etc...

At least they stopped when I was few months old I suppose...AND wait for it - I'm not even PFB - God knows what they did for my brother!!

'scuse my ingnorance, but what is PFB?

x-post jajas!

My friend's dad read from the book that catalogued her first words at her wedding because he was so proud of how early she talked.

We were all sitting there thinking 'oh well, you can't choose your relations....'

PFB = Precious First Born

It's not that they are actually more precious than subsequent children, just less neglected and with neurotic first timeparents. By the time you have a NSC (Neglected Subsequent Child) you realise they won't die if you leave them in grubby PJs all day.

I kept a daily diary of what my child did, slept and ate and where we went as I used to be a nanny and the parents wanted me to do it for them. I thought it was such a lovely thing to have for when they are older. As each baby has come along the diaries have got less detailed and now where near written as often!! I have stopped at age 5 for my eldest. First words, etc all went in it too.

DP and I did try, once, charting DD1 in manner of someone observing strange wild animal....but purely in the hope of detecting some routine in her day. Which we didn't. We never even tried with DD2, obviously.

When I was in hospital after having ds the midwives told me that I should do this until he was weaned at 6 months. Suffice to say, I didn't.
When I was in hospital (one very long week), I was supposed to fill in a chart with all this stuff 'to get into the habit'. I used to make it up when I heard them coming down the corridor just to get them off my back.

nearly pmsl, why would you do this, and what do she intend to do with the info??

when i was in hospital the mw gave me a feeding record sheet, and told me to record the times ds fed, and for how long.

my community mw came to see me at home the day after and briskly said, "Nonsense, just feed on demand," then threw the bit of paper away.

i never had a chance to thank her!

I kept a record of how much DS was feeding when he was very little as he had severe jaundice and they wanted me to stop breastfeeding and I didn't bloody want to. So it was nice to have evidence of how much he was on the breast that I could wave in their stupid faces.

I kept a record when we started sleep training which only lasted a week until he got the hang of it. Found it the other day and lost myself in happiness for several minutes as I remember how vile it was when he wasn't sleeping and how nice it is now he does.

Nappies...er...no, can't think of a single reason for that...

I did this with ds1, to see if I could spot the pattern - there was a pattern with him, and it was regular as clockwortk. He was like a training baby, to ease me into...

Ds2, who, it was soon plain to see, had NO PATTERN WHATSOEVER and never really has had, bar needing a nap in the morning. At 13 months old, . I finally worked this slight pattern out at 8 months old!

OCD. It's on the increase, I tell you!

Brilliant. The lady in question clearly has too much time on her hands, and is cordially invited to use it cleaning my flat .

It's good to know mothers of more than one who say some babies have no pattern. I did try writing down feeds/sleeps etc for a couple of weeks at a time for my ds in a vain attempt to work out a pattern/routine and there was NONE. It was to my eyes completely random.

I did find some of these lists recently and it is quite nice to have confirmation that my memory of those awful dark days of ds's babyhood are not exaggerated. If anything, much of the true horror has faded into a picture seen through the rose-tinted spectacles of time passed.

LC, before ds2, I thought women who moaned about awkward, whiny, unpredictable babies were Doing It Wrong.

I had my humble pie with custard, it nearly disguised the bitter taste.

And remember, ds2 was my second I knew I was Doing It Right, and it still wasn't working.

some babies are just goddamn hard work