Hi Mamas! For those of you that didn't see the age based check in poll, people seemed on board with the idea of a weekly place where they could check in and compare notes with other moms with babies in the same age range. This will take the place of our old ticker change check in's. Enjoy!
-Age (weeks + days..ie 3 weeks, 2 days)
-Sleeping
-Eating
-Milestones
-Questions
-AW
Re: Weekly Check-In for Babies Born 11/17-11/23
-Sleeping: Pretty great, all things considered. He pretty much sleeps for 3 consecutive 3-4 hours stretches from about 11 to 9. I've also managed to get both LOs down for a nap at the same time every day.
-Eating: A lot. :-)
-Milestones: No real milestones yet. We just got past or 3 week growth spurt and we're due for the first wonder week any day, according to the app.
-Questions: No questions yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, though.
Sleeping: Ugh. Still can't manage more than 2 hours straight at night.
Eating: Every 1.5-3 hours. Eating like a champ!
Milestones: Just got through that dreadful growth spurt. I'm glad his feeding schedule is on track! We had to go out and buy him bigger clothes.
Questions: Are we idiots for scheduling a sleepover for DS at his grandma's? With the exception of a 3.5 hour stretch earlier this week, H and I have not slept for more than 2 hours at a time since DS was born, and we are both dying. I feel guilty, but I know we'll be better parents with a few hours' sleep.
She sleeps so much still. It's still early, but so far she is a much easier infant than my son was.
She eats about every three hours. Except last night she wanted to boob continuously.
She laughs in her sleep. It's the sweetest most wonderful little giggle ever. My son never did that, and i just love it.
-Age : 3 weeks and 5 days
-Sleeping: pretty well. He sleeps from 7 to 10 then feeds 10-11 or 12 then sleeps till 4ish to 5ish. That's about 6-7 hours stretch depending on what time he went to sleep. He would feed the back to sleep for an hour or two.
-Eating: He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day at home. If we take him out to do errands, he may sleep longer but I commit to try to stick to the 2-3 hours so I can get a longer sleep at nights. He very rarely gets a bottle only if my nips are insanely sore. We struggle w his latch and I think he may have a tongue tie.
-Milestones: he's holding his neck up more often and do occassional push ups. He has made some eye contacts and he's more alert. I tried reading books to him last night and he seemed to really like it. He doesn't look at the books but listening to my voice put him to sleep. He also started the play gym briefly few times and likes it.
-Questions: I feed him both sides every feeding and the feedings can take up to an hour. He unlatches frequently but has a strong suck. It is mystifying how most of his poops are green and as long he's nursing, he doesn't get the hindmilk? I need to research on this. Is it possible I don't make enough hind milk? I frequently compress/massage my breasts to encourage hindmilk to come out for him. At nights my boobs feels so so empty and sore... The entire thing is puzzling. It may be possible that I have a overactive let down due to the unlatching but it drips not sprays...
-AW - he is so so cute. I love dressing him up in cute clothes while I can!! Yesterday he wore this outfit and it was apt. He was a cluster feeding freak yesterday!
-Sleeping: Her routine has been 10-3, 4-7, 8-10:30
-Eating: She eats every 3-4 hours usually and is gaining an ounce a day. I feed on demand because she hates being woken up to eat. My nipples are really messed up from initial bad latching and the LC suggest I started to pump and bottle feed at night to help let my nipples heal since night feedings are harder to get the proper latch. Worked well last night.
-Milestones: More like observations... she's picking up her head a lot more, finding her thumb to suck occasionally, smiles (more as a reflex then because anything has happened)
-Questions: We haven't had the 3 week growth spurt yet. When did that start for you? How long did it last?
-AW: She's the cutest after she's eaten and burped. Slight milk comma, but alert and happy!
During the blocked duct episode, I made sure he gets that breast first to help clear up the duct but now I'm putting him back on the other because the other leaks so bad. The left leaks like crazy, the right doesn't.
I will try the block feeding again and see how it helps. The unlatch/latch drives me bonkers but I'll persist!
-Sleeping: we have good days and less good days. She spoiled us a week ago with two blocks of 4 hours at night. Of course, that hasn't been repeated and she usually sleeps aout 2.5 to 3.5 hours.
-Eating: I agree, EBF is tough. My nips are sore again. Every time I think we've got it down, it changes…she starts latching badly or pulling away. Now we're in cluster feed time (growth spurt), which is not so fun because I have to re-latch her a million times at night. I'm starting to dread nursing. In good news, my LO is getting chubby chubby! It is so cute, but her newborn clothes are starting to be a little snug. Some of them, she only wore once or twice. And her christmas outfits are nb sized too. When we brought her home, everything was too big!
-Questions: none
-AW: Took a shower with LO yesterday and it was so nice! I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by showering and bathing her. I thought she might not like the water coming down from above but she didn't mind at all.
-Sleeping: so far Jackson has been a pretty darn good sleeper. He typically goes at least 2 hours, but has given me some 4 hour stretches at night. He'd been good during the day too until yesterday when he clearly was having a growth spurt... hoping today us back to normal.
-Eating: Like a champ. We are EBF And it has been going pretty well. Yesterday when he was eating every 30-60 minutes and didn't want to be out down was the first time I wished I'd pumped some so he could of had a bottle.
-Milestones: He's passed a bunch of them early except the growth spurts. Those have been pretty on target. But he was over his birth weight by two weeks and rolling from tummy to back by then as well. The amount of strength he's had since birth has been shocking. And I feel like he has already been tracking pretty well with his eyes, better than what the pediatrician told us to expect.
-Questions: None for the second. I'm sure that will change quickly enough
-AW: I was really worried about losing the weight after having a baby but I'm already within about 7lbs (after gaining 30) of my pre-pregnancy weight and have been able to start wearing non-maternity clothes for about a week. Also, attaching a picture because Jackson's cuteness definitely deserves AWing ;-)
-Sleeping: He's been staying awake more during the day, and sleeps about 1.5-2 sometimes 3 hour stretches during the day. At night he will sometimes be a night owl and then other times he will sleep rather well. We try to wake him every 3 hours at night to feed, but lately we've overslept and he wakes us up every 4 hours or so. He's getting better.
-Eating/Feeding: EBF is hard. We had a hard time at first, but have come a long way. We have to use a nipple shield, cause we had to supplement at first and switching back and forth became confusing for DS. Hopefully we will be able to get rid of the nipple shield soon and be good.
We have tried to feed him every 2 hours a day since he came home from the hospital, and in doing so I haven't noticed any growth spurts, so I don't know if we've been on top of it, or if one is brewing lol. At night he wakes every 3-4 hours to feed. He feeds normally about 20 mins in total every feeding, but he does have some (at night, and late afternoon 3-5pm) 5-10 mins feedings. I really worry about him getting enough since we had to supplement at first, but I can feel that he is gaining weight, and he is looking bigger, both which are great.
-Milestones: He makes eye contact for longer stretches. Whenever he was a day old he would make eye contact and it just keeps getting better. Also he is lifting his head and holding it up looking around for 10 secs or so, sometimes longer. We haven't done much tummy time, but did some the other day and almost rolled over. The pediatrician has been astounded at his strength and focus since the beginning, and has said he is ahead developmentally.
-Questions: When did y'all's hit growth spurts during their 3rd week. The pediatrician said he would have a 2 week growth spurt, not a 3. And since I haven't noticed one I just wonder if it's because we try to feed him every 2 hours, or if it's just because he hasn't hit one yet. He has had a few feedings the past two days where he eats like every hour for like 2-3 hours, then goes back to every 2-3 hours.
And here is a picture of little man
*sorry for the novel of a post lol
Sleeping: I've been so lucky with a good sleeper right from the get go. She sleeps 2-3 hours during the day and up to 7 hours at night. We had a couple nights during the growth spurt that she just wanted to be held at night, but she usually sleeps from 10-4 and then 4:30-9.
Eating: EBF is hard. My milk didn't come in for a while (I lost a lot of blood and had two transfusions) and when it did, she refuses to latch without a shield. So, we use the shield and she's happy but we do supplement because she needs to gain more weight.
Milestones: I love playing with her during her awake time, her eye contact and focus is really improving.
Questions
Aw: this. This moment. Her joy is absolutely contagious.
Sleep: we just got through a three week growth spurt and that was hard.
Last night she slept 10-12, 1-5 and 7-9. I'm hoping now that she's gained some weight with the growth spurt that she will sleep longer stretches at night. She's definitely more awake during the day now, so I guess that's good? It will be interesting to see what her sleeping and eating patterns are this coming week.
Feeding: I'm EBF and we are doing pretty well. I get frustrated sometimes that I cannot get a break since I'm the only ones who can feed her, but everyone in my family (who also EBF) keeps telling me that this is temporary and she will start stretching out feedings. I'm thankful though that the BF has gone so well. I have been feeding her every 2-3 hours during the day and anywhere from 2-4hrs at night, but like I mentioned above, we had a growth spurt all last week so we will see what happens this week. She went from 7.13lbs last Monday to 8.3lbs last night!
Milestones: getting more 3-4hr stretches at night, eye contact and weight gain! She's definitely getting stronger too and a little belly Oh and that my nipples aren't so sore anymore..YAY.
AW: she's starting to coo here and there and it's adorable.
Here's a photo of our LO
-Age 3 weeks and 2 days
-Sleeping - she sleeps quite well in the night, but usually doesn't settle down for a long stint until 11-12 or so. Then she will sleep until 4 or so, wake up for a feeding and then sleep until 7 or so. I know I'm pretty lucky here! However, her daytime naps are decreasing dramatically and more crying has taken it's place ...
-Eating - every 2-3 hours during the day. At night, every 3 1/2-4 hrs or so. A couple times she's slept from midnight until 6 and I've had to wake her up.
-Milestones - nothing yet
-Questions - These past couple days have been tough on me emotionally and physically. The crying has really increased. Yesterday she cried off and on from 11am until 11pm ... I had a few really good cries myself. I know to be colicky - they classify it as 3 hrs of crying, she doesn't do this in a row - rather I'll find something that soothes her for a short time, she may take a 30 min nap or so, and then she's back at it.
She also has a HUGE tendency to suck, did right from the get go so we introduced the pacifier on day 2. My question is, does anyone else's lo want to suck and get fussy right after eating? this is a new thing that has been happening the past couple days and didn't happen previously - so I can't help but think it may be related to the crying. And what are ways you calm yourself when you can't seem to calm your LO??
-AW, pic taken at 3 weeks, sorry it's sideways!!
-Age -- 3w1d
-Sleeping -- decent! A few naps during the day. Our first child thought naps were for suckers. So this is amazing. And we get 2-3 hour stretches at night. Once in a while we get a 4 or 5 hour treat, too.
The bad news? As soon as we want to go to bed she can sense it and gets cranky. We are learning how to keep her settled.
-Eating -- she eats well most of the time. Sometimes she likes to yell at my boobs and the tubes taped to them. Can't blame her. I would like to do the same now and then. But the SNS is a life saver for us.
-Milestones- ??
-Questions ??
-AW - saw our photo gallery for our newborn shoot. very happy.
Sleeping - not terrible. I think he's starting to sort out his days and nights. He still sleeps much better during the day but he's sleeping well in the evening and most of the night. He has a hard time settling after his early morning feed, though. This morning he was fussy starting at 4:30 am. I think he thought it was time to get up.
Eating - he's a little piggy! He can take up to 4 ounces every 2-3 hours.
Milestones - I'd like to think he's smiling at me but it's probably gas
Anyone else's lo constantly want to be held?! I feel like when I put her down she is fine for maybe 5 minutes... and then starts wailing. pick her up, start swaying a little... and she's fine. My back is about to break! She'll kind of start to doze off, but if you try and set her down before she's unconscious you are back to square one. I know you can't spoil a newborn, so I just try and do whatever it takes to stop the crying. It's exhausting ... am I alone here?
-Sleeping. Don't wanna jinx it, but she's a good sleeper. She usually sleeps all night with 3 and 4 hour stretches from 11pm to 9am on average.
-Eating. We EBF on demand. She typically eats every 2 - 3 hours during the day.
-Milestones: None really yet. Still a squishy newborn she tries and lifts her head a lot.
-Questions.
Is anyone else's baby cross eyed sometimes?? Sometimes when she tries to focus on me her eye turns in.
-AW
I'm so madly in love with this little girl! She is such a good baby that she gives me baby fever. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And as much as I'd love to hog all the credit it was a team effort! I'd thought of it but hadn't mentioned it. So when someone asked about it I was all over a clicky poll Then the idea got fine tuned with the help of a couple of other mamas in the poll thread.