If you read the “last post”:/news/2006/first-night-without-papa-the-girls-side/, you might be wondering to yourself, “How did Ann know how many diapers she had changed?” Behold, the wonder of the Lucy Log.
Before Lucy was born, I was convinced that we needed a system to keep track of the number of feedings, wet diapers, sleep periods, and such. At the hospital, they encouraged us to record these things, especially to help us gauge if breastfeeding was on track or not. We sketched out a couple of charts for this purpose, but it wasn’t until Lucy was about one week old that Papa came up with this fabulous design.
It resembles a “Scantron”:http://www.jonboyd.org/words/000026.php form. There are little circles for feedings, wet and dirty diapers, and sleep at each half hour through the whole day, making it easy to record what happens without writing (useful, when suffering from sleep deprivation) and read it at a glance in near darkness.
Here are some of its benefits:
* you can see time depicted accurately “to scale”
* it is easy to count feedings or diapers
* there is room for notes
* filling in those little circles can be pretty satisfying
You might call us freaks for still keeping track of Lucy’s behavior now that she is 12 weeks old. (Actually, you might call us freaks for any number of reasons.) Well, go ahead — it won’t be the first time! The Log might be a bit on the obsessive-compulsive side, but we find it very useful to have an accurate record when we start to feel discouraged about any of Lucy’s habits.
bq. *Devil on left shoulder:* “Lucy hasn’t pooped in days!”
*Lucy Log:* Well, no, it’s just been 18 hours.
*Devil:* “Lucy will always wake up at 3:15 AM!”
*Lucy Log:* Well, she’s only done it two days in a row — and she slept till 5:30 or later for six consecutive days before that.
*Devil:* “Um… let’s see… she smells bad!”
*Lucy Log:* That is so weak, can’t you do better? Guess not.
An objective dose of reality is the best antidote to our worries sometimes.
In case you might want to use this form, you can “download it as an Excel document”:/news/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/lucy-log-2.xls [revised version]. Note that it’s designed to print on legal-sized paper (8.5″ x 14″).
Well, I’ll join you in the crazy – I kept a nursing log for Benjamin until he was probably at least 6 months old (maybe even 7 months) at which point I finally switched to just using a rubberband on my wrist to know which side I was on and remembering the time of his last feeding.
I kept a sleep log for him starting around 10 weeks of age and maintained that until he was probably 9 months or so. I finally gave it up when he got to the point where even if his naps were short for the day or something like that, he wouldn’t make-up the sleep with an extra nap or early bedtime, so there really was no point to the log anymore. He’s now to the point where if he has “bad” sleep for a day (i.e. shorter than normal naps or earlier than normal wake-up time), he’ll make up for it the next day with longer naps or a later wake-up time – he’s self-regulating.
I did stop tracking diapers when he was around 12 weeks old and gaining fine. He pooped several times a day until he was 4 or 5 months old, so I didn’t really need to keep track of it.
that’s great! that’s what I should have had with my twins, because sometimes the devil had a field day with my sleep-deprived lack of memory… “was it Bubbie I changed three hours ago, or was that Mac? I know I was up 4x last night, but were all four for Mac, or just two or three?” I knew I couldn’t have handled writing it down, but Scantron, yeah baby I could have done that in my sleep. What a great system. I think being obsessive compulsive, if that’s what that is, is a lot better than living in fear ;o)
I think it would be to Lucy’s advantage if you would continue recording her feeding and bathroom habits well into her teen years. Continue posting it on the blog on a regular basis, and make sure all of her friends know it’s there. That’s my solution to raising a child who will one day become a well adjusted adult.
Okay, so I have horrible ideas. That’s why I don’t have any children.
Can I have a copy of that for the next one?
Heh, heh…I could’ve used that when Daniel was a newborn and didn’t poop for 3 weeks. Drove me bonkers, because I thought something was wrong with him. Turned out he was really good at minimalizing waste at the time, so when he finally did, he only did it once a week.
Boy, I miss those days. Yesterday, I changed his poopy diaper 4x in the morning. He just kept churning them out. Sigh…
Katrina, Jon has a link above — at the end of the post — where you can download a copy of the Lucy Log. :)
LaShawn, that is impressive — three weeks! If he is anything like Lucy, he would have gotten pretty grumpy after awhile.
Eric, we think in preparation for parenthood someday, you should start recording Bruce’s personal habits (this is Allie’s cat) — although you might need to put a diaper on him for awhile to get an accurate wet/dirty count. :)
Nicole, that is encouraging that you kept records too! I keep wondering when we’ll call it quits. Deborah told me once that she kept records until a dog she was sitting for ate them all, and it seemed like a good time to stop.
And if the Excel document format doesn’t work for you, let me know and I could publish a PDF, too.
Well, I’ll also admit to keeping a log. I kept it when Abi was 2 – 4 months of age. The main purpose of our log was to note what she was doing and her temperment to help me detect some kind of pattern to the madness. I had hopes of directing her to a routine that she was already giving us hints about. It worked so-so. Now I keep a simple sleep log for Josi for the same reasons :)
Ok I guess I’m Type A in everything but mothering. Then I’m so laid back I really couldn’t tell you which diaper I just changed, or who needs to eat. Good thing the 3 year old tells me she’s: hungry/thirsty/poopy/wet or she just takes care of things her self. And good ol Mo who is 3 months old today (ok I didn’t even know that until I started this post and realized it) just cries if I’m forgetting one of my mothering duties. You’re organized enough for both of us Ann, and I’m sure your pedi loves it and if it keeps you sane, go for it.
I love everything about this post… love the chart, love Eric being funny, love that Tysa makes me feel like I am not the only mom who might sometimes let some of the “little” things (??!) pass by. : )