get all the sleep you can now.
Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
131–137 of 137 posts
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#132I have a 5 1/2 month old boy named Ryland and he is just now finally sleeping all night long(9pm to 7:30am) The first 2-3 months were zombie time. I couldn't get any work done because of the sleep dep. My one biggest piece of advice. SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS. or you will get NO sleep ever. It will be the roughest thing you have ever gone through but one smile from your childs face up at yours makes it all better an…
Perfect timing, your great insights will serve me well as I just became a father to an updated version of me 5 days ago :D
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sideline them? Actually I think its theraputic for the kids to allow other people to take care of them. It helps them adjust to the world and understand that mommy and daddy DON'T have to be there for them to thrive.
Indeed, balance: "don't let nannies have all the fun" emphasis added. I let a 7yo I'd never met take my 16mo old off to the playpark today .. I did watch from less than 50m away though, perhaps I'm holding the reins too tight?
So what exactly is your point? You don't seem to have one as far as I can tell.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#134Oh and hope you get lucky like I did with a daughter who slept through the night from day one. It helped to have a large # of people around the first week or two constantly playing with her (as people do around new babies), keeping her generally awake during the day and exhausting her at night. Also, don't buy any books. They're all a waste of money, and you probably have enough common sense and natural instinct for…
> a daughter who slept through the night from day one As the father of two -- neither of whom slept through the night from day one -- I had to restrain myself from downvoting you for that one, bud :-) > don't buy any books ... You're joking, right?
Yeah, we got really lucky with Kaylee, she was always a night sleeper ... well sort of lucky, since I'm not really diurnal, but am rather nocturnal ...
As for the books, yes. I feel that most of them are detrimental and written by quack new-age hippy psychologists. One of the books we were given literally told us to place crystals next to our daughter when she slept to keep her "biorhythms" in check.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#135Oh and hope you get lucky like I did with a daughter who slept through the night from day one. It helped to have a large # of people around the first week or two constantly playing with her (as people do around new babies), keeping her generally awake during the day and exhausting her at night. Also, don't buy any books. They're all a waste of money, and you probably have enough common sense and natural instinct for…
Oh, boy. No, don't rely on common sense, particularly because you won't have much at the beginning (lack of sleep can make you impressively stupid). You don't have to buy lots of books if you know a lot of smart parents who can bring you up to speed (and who live nearby or with you), but there's a lot of info to learn if you don't have solid kid experience yourself already.
I disagree, especially considering the audience here. Most of us are trained at functioning for long periods of time without sleep, especially those of us in operations. I did all of the middle of the night diaper changing the first month, I got to the point where I could have her changed in 2 minutes without opening my eyes. It was like being on-call but far more pleasant, somehow. In the midst of all this we also moved our Datacenter 900 miles north to Seattle, as well as our employees, and ourselves. I'm saying all of this because it isn't as frightening as you think. The exhaustion isn't so bad because it is born in "purpose".
Ugh, even worse, don't ask the smart parents to bring you up to speed, at least not the ones who are going to start cramming some ridiculous child-rearing philosophy down your throat. I will not reproduce again, because I never want to hear the terms "La Leche League", "Co-Sleeping", or "Attachment Parenting" ever again.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#136One minor tip, not needed for a few months yet: make sure that the socket inserts are difficult to remove.
A number of companies made plastic plugs one can insert into wall sockets to keep babies from exploring them. Unfortunately, at least one company makes them too small. We discovered this shortly after our child started crawling: he crawled to the socket, removed the plug, put it in his mouth, and attempted to re-insert it. We immediately replaced those plugs with ones that required effort for an adult to remove and were beyond what a baby could manage.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
As the father of a 1 year old girl who owns a gym and has a start-up, I agree with everything in this post. ezmobius, I wish I had more votes to give you, as this is one of the best comments I've read on HN. And an emphasis on sleeping when your baby sleeps, you may need to encourage your wife to sleep, as she'll probably want to do other things. A friend of mine with 3 kids often says, "Mom takes care of the baby, D…
> Mom takes care of the baby, Dad takes care of Mom. I'm pretty opposed to this idea, actually. Breastfeeding is an obvious exception (I couldn't help much with that, though during the tricky part at the beginning I learned a hell of a lot about how to help the baby latch on), but in general I think you should be doing every single baby task whenever you can. If you don't, after a few weeks your wife will be so much…
I'm not sure if you're attempting to imply that I'm an uninvolved father, but I do appreciate you snipping the context for the quote you chose.