Any tips on watching my four month old son while my wife goes to work tonight
 

She's doing a four hour shift in the ER and I've got to be Mr. Mom - it seems like once he knows she's gone he goes OFFF!

I think that's what it is when he just "ate" and has clean "pants."

I'm working all week long so he's really not used to spending a lot of time by himself with me.

someone on here had their oldest son teach their youngest how to eat poop.

good idea except he doesn't have an older brother

If you have a sling, use it. Walk and/or bounce him if he gets fussy (or try the swing or bouncy chair if he likes them). And remember that most babies have a "fussy time" for a couple of hours in the evening.

I would have watched what she did during the previous 4 months.

you can teach him then

sleeping pills

I think we have a winner. Working isn't an excuse for not knowing...

FM

Wow. Different strokes for different folks and all that but you might want to consider spending more time with your son going forward.

I know the basics - just wanted to see if any had some magic

Don't know if we need to rip the guy. It's a four month old and his first kid, I think not knowing exactly the best way to calm a baby down who is used to Momma around is excusable.

Now for my advice. How far to get to a grandmother? :)

to me, his moralising tone in the gas thread warranted it :)

FM

i have never been in a situation where beer and pizza wasn't a viable option

Do what my grandfather did: put some vodka in the formula. ;)

both grandmas are about 1,500 miles away (I'm in South Florida they're in Philly area and Upstate NY)

hire one for the evening, some 50yo grandmas still look pretty good

FM

I spend plenty of time with him, however, it's usually with my wife as well. Nobody can make you feel better than your mom can when your a baby.

Sorry, I feel like an ass for typing that. I would recommend setting some time aside for you and your son in the future. It will give your wife a chance to get some time away and some good quality bonding time for you and your son.

FOF. Babies love it!

I remember those days. Everytime my sons mom would leave he would start screaming and wouldn't stop til she came back. I would like to tell you the magic answer, but the only thing I can say is that it gets better with time. Good luck

Try to be more thoughtful and 'in-the-moment' with your son than you have been on FOFC with your ridiculous string of posts the last week or so. Seriously, if you are half the trainwreck tonight as you've been on FOFC, I'm calling Child Protective Services tomorrow.

Have you heard of "Baby Einstein" ? They're educational DVDs that teach your child shapes, colors, and other things. Well, I was gonna suggest putting one of these so he's distracted while your wife/girlfriend is gone.

The link is for the whole collection but you can buy them individually as well.

I think it's the ideal time to work on your son's golf swing.

When I'd watch our babies, I had a mental checklist of things to go through to stop them from crying. When the baby would cry, I'd run through my list as efficiently as possible:

1. Diaper
2. Hunger
3. Gas (usually after feeding, of course)
4. Movement (BabyBjorns for the win!)
5. Stimuli (talking, soothing, rocking, playing, etc.)

The tricky part for me, I felt, was the feeding part, because some babies are pretty picky when it comes to bottles: the angle of the bottle, the temperature of the milk, the way you hold their head, etc. Our son didn't really care one way or the other as long as it was his usual drink, but our daugther only liked her milk molten hot, even luke warm and she wouldn't drink it.

It can be hard, though, if the baby is so used to your wife's voice, smell, and touch, to make things work the first few times, but after a while it'll go pretty easily.

And then there are times where you just can't win and nothing you'll do can stop them from crying.

It's after the fact but for what it's worth, my wife would wrap a baby blanket around herself for a bit before she took off for a while. This gets the "Mommy Smell" on the blanket. Then when bed time came I'd snuggle 'em up in the treated blanket with a bottle. The feel of their favorite blanket that smells like Mommy worked for me a few times.

Yep, basically call a babysitter.