Things kicked up a notch this month!
I learned to start trusting my instincts and Spud got both harder and more rewarding to deal with.
Formula to the rescue
We started doing more formula top ups, more regularly. I remember one afternoon when he wouldn't stop crying even after feeding for hours. I decided to try making up a bottle and offered it to him - magic! Most nights we do a last bottle before bed (though it doesn't always get finished or sometimes is barely touched) and sometimes when he gets hungry later in the day and I seem to have dried up, we'll top him up.
The sleep struggle
Speaking of trying things, another time along with the fussing he was showing early signs of tiredness so I popped him into the pram, fully prepared to rock him for awhile. He went to sleep in minutes though and I felt like a rockstar! Naps now take work, sadly. They don't just happen automatically anymore...
We set new nighttime sleep records almost every weekend. I suspect our Thursday osteo appointments may have helped. On his two month anniversary I woke up amazed that he'd slept through - over 7 hours! A feat yet to be repeated, sadly.
The osteo showed me how to get him to take a dummy by tapping it while in his mouth. But that was a onetime thing; I could never get it to work again after that...
D-MER no more
I had sometimes been feeling a weird wave of emotion at the start of each feeding. Like an overwhelming sense of frustration. That went away this month, and I think it was a bout of dysphoric milk ejection. The things you learn when endlessly scrolling FB and Reddit...
Our escape artist (thank god for structured industrial strength swaddles)
People say he's the wriggliest baby ever. I have nothing else to compare him to but I do feel validated...he never stays still! Head butts while holding him upright for burps or fun - just a daily hazard of the job. And muslins weren't cutting it as swaddles anymore as he'd break free right away. I bought a few straightjacket-like swaddles and they were a godsend.
Interactivity
Smiles! Real smiles. So many! And he started to spend more time awake after feeding, making playtime A Thing at last.
Excretions
I have poo envy. Seriously. Between this kid's explosive poops (sounds like a drain emptying ferociously) and T spending forever in the toilet, it seems just silly that I'm more clogged up than I was while pregnant.
That said, this poop machine dialed it back a bit especially overnight, until most nights he would only have wet (not dirty) diapers. Although he outgrew size one in Huggies he didn't fit the next size up. Thank goodness for Japanese brands! A subject for another post... While he still isn't big enough for my OSFM reusables, we have two newborn cloth nappies that are getting some use. But I'm baffled as to how we're supposed to get a good fit with domes/snaps; Velcro seems like the only way to go. Still can't quite get them sitting right, as in not too loose or too tight.
I accepted that spews and spills were just going to be our new normal and that he was going to be a refluxy baby. Stuff coming out both ends while up on the change table? Just another day in our lives...
Getting out of the house
I became a baby wearing fan. The first time I had him in the front pack snuggled up to me, it felt so much like being pregnant again. His squirming around was just like the movements he used to make in utero.
We went out on our first solo walk. It. Felt. Amazing! We ventured down the local cycleway to the pony farm and back. Sadly I can't wrangle both a pram and a dog, let alone two. Any dog walks are done one at a time and only while I'm babywearing.
Other bits and bobs
I came across the Dunstan baby cries theory and at first it was a game changer, then not so much. He basically has only two cries I can discern and hungry/tired are the same.
We survived our first vaccinations! He was fussier in the following days and came up with a new sad whimpering cry, and also had a bit of diarrhoea, I think. But overall, could have been worse.
Time truly is flying, and balancing today with tomorrow is still tough as ever...
