Week 6 brought some changes in our house, and was the by far the most challenging week for me since we've been home from the hospital. Remember that potential 6 week growth spurt I mentioned a couple of weeks ago? Well it came with a vengeance, and lasted all. week. long. While I definitely want our baby boy to grow like he is supposed to, growth spurts in newborn baby terms mean more eating. And by more eating, I mean eating around the clock. The day he turned 6 weeks, he decided that waiting 3 hours between night feedings was totally unacceptable, and decided that eating every 1 1/2 hours was WAY more fun. I disagreed. But tell that to a 6 week old baby who thinks he might wither away if he doesn't eat RIGHT THEN. But, we survived. The following day may or may not have included a few tears of exhaustion shed by mommy. But then when this face looks up at me, it makes any lack of sleep completely worth it.
Week 7 returned to "normal" with the feeding and sleeping schedule, and he finally started giving his mommy some good 4 hour stretches. This past weekend, he actually gave me a 6 and 7 hour break between feeds on Saturday and Sunday nights! However, his last feedings those nights were at 7, so I was still getting up at 1 and 2, but that is HUGE progress from two weeks ago!
Speaking of a schedule, we're still not on a perfect by-the-clock schedule, but there is definitely more of a pattern than there used to be! This is (roughly) what has been going on this week:
5:30- first feeding of the day, but we BOTH go back to sleep after this. Once I go back to work, I will have to start getting ready for the day after this one, so I'm trying to enjoy this morning "nap" while I can!
7:30-8- He wakes up to nurse. I usually pump after this feeding and freeze it.
The rest of the day still kind of varies on the exact time, he usually has about 3 naps during the day (about 1 1/2-2 hours), and eats every 2.5-3 hours. He has several "awake" times between those naps, and that's when we do tummy time, activity mat, and the swing.
Lately his last feeding of the evening has been between 7-8 (although I'm trying to do as much as I can to back this up), and we have bath time once he finishes eating. He really likes his bath time now, so I'm thankful for that!
Also in the past two or three weeks, he has been giving us more and more of those precious gummy grins and coos. Talk about melting your heart away!
Today we had his 2 month check up, and he weighed a whopping 11 pounds and 8 ounces! Little chunker has nearly doubled his weight since birth (6 pounds and 1 ounce), and has put on 3 1/2 pounds in the past month! Like I said, that "growth spurt" at week 6 was no joke! He is now 21.5 inches long and his head was 16 inches, putting him at the 42nd percentile for wt, 5th percentile for length, and 93rd percentile for weight for length!
He got an A+ on his development thus far, and showed off head control skills like a champ, and even shared one of his smiles with the pediatrician. Little did he know he was about to get his first round of those mean ol' vaccinations. But he did much better with it than his sissy of a momma!
It just amazes me how quickly he is changing, growing, and developing. Can this please slow down?? Just a little?
I suggest you don't push back that last feeding...it will help him sleep through the night quicker because he will slowly push the middle of the night feeding later and later and will go away...it worked really well with us and Sydney slept through the night from like 7:30 until 5 ish by 3 months. She has slept 12 hrs at night since soon after that! As she pushed back that middle night feed I would pump and freeze then to build up supply and then slowly just weaned that off too. Call me if you want clarification :) Miss you.
ReplyDeleteI love that you can see his personality starting to show up. Those smiles are so stinking cute!!
ReplyDeleteSo cute!
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