A Day in the Life of a 2 Month Old

So many people give "advice" on how to raise a kid that is not theirs, including how to schedule them. I mean seriously. People try to train babies to get on a schedule? How stressful and ridiculous. When my baby cries in the middle of the night, it is because he is hungry and as a good mother, I will get up, change his diaper and feed him half asleep. Many people see that night waking moment as the perfect opportunity to pop a pacifier in their mouths to be able to "train" the baby to sleep longer and for the parents to get more sleep. Good for them if it works, but that strategy is not for me.

In a way, I did "train" Dax, but not using the method listed above. The kid won't take a pacifier so that option would not be there anyways! In the beginning, with all the weight he lost and the issues with feeding, our pediatrician recommended that we wake him up every 2 hours around the clock to feed (many newborns will sleep through their feedings if you don't). The 2 hours started counting at the start of the feed so if he ate for 30 minutes, then was rocked for 20 minutes, there was only an hour and 20 minutes left until his next feed. Needless to say, we were both exhausted and probably a little nutty. Once he started gaining weight consistently, we were able to stop waking him at night and allow him to wake up when he was hungry...this still ended up being every 2 hours throughout the night and day for awhile though.

We started a routine pretty early. At night when it was bedtime and time to eat, we turned on a dim lamp in his room and we put on his jammies. When he woke up for night feedings, lights stayed off, voices stayed off, and we did only what needed to be done...diaper and feeding. In the morning, lights came on, jammies came off. Now in the beginning it did not make a difference and he did not know day from night, but we still kept the routine going and eventually he started to sleep a little longer at night, maybe 3 hours instead of 2. But his sleep was so restless!! He grunted and squealed all night long keeping us awake.

It was only when I put Dax down for a nap at 8:00 one night (he napped on his belly), and he did not wake up until 1:00 a.m. that we realized we needed to switch him over from his back to belly at night, regardless of the risks. Belly sleeping saved our sanity. Keeping with the routine above, Dax started settling into a 8-9 bedtime, sleeping 4-5 hr stretches, sometimes as long as 7 hours. When he does wake in the middle of the night to eat, he falls right back to sleep.

Here is what a "typical" day looks like with Dax:

7:30-8:30 a.m - wake up/diaper, play, eat
9:00 - nap
9:30 - 10:45 - diaper, play, eat
11:00 - nap
11:30 - 12:45 - diaper, play, eat
1:00 - nap
1:30-2:45 - diaper, play, eat
3:00 - nap
3:30-4:45 - diaper, play, eat
5:00 - nap
5:30-6:45 - diaper, play, eat
7:00 - nap
7:30 until bedtime - diaper, play, eat
9:00 p.m. - 4:30 a.m. - sleep
4:30 a.m. - diaper, eat
5:00 a.m. - 7:30 - sleep

Now some days, he is like clockwork and goes down for a nap right at the 2 hr mark every time, other days it is a little shorter or longer. Same with sleep time, sometimes it is as short as a 15 minute cat nap, sometimes it will last an hr. In between sleep is not really scheduled, yes we diaper, play, eat, but it is not always in that order. I feed him based on whether or not he is hungry, so sometimes it is as soon as he wakes up, other times it is right before he goes down for a nap.

He is starting to love exploring the world around him so he will play on his play mat some mornings for a good 40 minutes while I get things done around the house. Of course, I stop over and play a bit...how could I not?!

Love my little bug, so proud of the little guy he is turning into and the life we are creating together. It's a bug's life! (and not the movie!) =)

Finding Mr. Right

...in a bottle, that is.


Rewind to when Daxton was 1 week old and having latch issues. Since he lost about a pound due to not eating enough, we had to supplement a bit with formula. As someone who wanted her baby only to experience the goodness and amazing benefits of breastfeeding, I was devastated...but that is another story for another time. Anyways, he took a bottle with no hesitation, no preference to me, nothing. He just took it and chugged it down. We used the wide neck Dr. Brown bottles I received at my shower. I had done a lot of research on bottles and got feedback from others and those seemed to be the best bottles for everything such as gas, spitting up, and even breastfed babies. This obviously proved to be true when my new baby took to it so willingly.

Fast forward 6 weeks when I had my postpartum check up and left Daddy to hang with baby. Since breastfed babies eat every 2-3 hours, it was inevitable that he would have to give Dax a bottle while I was out. So Dad got a bottle ready and just like before, Dax took to the bottle with no problems and ate like a champ! Not so much. He hated it. Wanted nothing to do with it. Didn't even know WHAT to do with it. He clearly knew that this oddly shaped silicone thing in his mouth was not human and he did not want it. Luckily in this case, Daddy was able to get Dax to sleep so he did not have to hear him wailing with hunger the whole time until I got home.

This stressed me out. How come my baby decided to dislike the bottle that he seemed to enjoy just a short 6 weeks ago? Well, I decided to try out some more bottle and nipple types in hopes of finding the right bottle.

Bottle's We Hate:

1. Dr. Browns - with more research, I found that these really aren't that great for breastfed babies. Look at the nipple...unless your breast is shaped in a 90 degree angle, this bottle is not going to work for a breastfeeding mother (with a picky baby).

2. Avent Natural - nipple was a little better shaped, but way too long. Dax gagged every time we tried this one.

3. Avent Classic - shaped similar to the Dr. Brown wide neck bottle nipples so this one did not work either.

4. Nuk Orthodontic - the one bottle I thought he would take because the nipple has a flat part at the tip, it is shorter, and the milk comes out to where it would hit the roof of their mouth rather than the back of the throat. Nope. Still fussed and wouldn't take it.

5. Playtex Drops-Ins - I tried both the silicone and latex nipple with this one. He seemed to play with it a little more but still could not get him to suck it....or put it past his gums and his crazy pushing tongue.

 7 nipples total. What a waste!


SO. I did more research. Researched bottles and best nipple shape for breastfed babies. This is when I found that Dr. Brown wide neck nipples and others similarly shaped are actually the worst for breastfed babies...go figure! I also stumbled across this gem of a website: http://www.babygearlab.com/Baby-Bottle-Reviews

Complete with reviews on multiple types of bottles including ratings for nipple softness, ease of cleaning, the vent system, etc.

The #1 bottle on the site is made of stainless steel (this reasoning put it at #1), really not something I was interested in so I went to the #2 bottle, Tommee Tippee. I thought about trying this one, but the nipple was still pretty firm and reviews were 50/50. So I played around the idea of the #3 bottle, and finally decided to go for it based on the raving reviews by breastfeeding moms.

I introduce to you, Mr. Right. (or Comotomo)



Cute, right?

This bottle is a little on the expensive side, I paid $12.99 (free shipping) on amazon for one 5 oz. bottle. Call me crazy? No, because this bottle is amazing!

The whole bottle is made of silicone, giving it a almost human like feel, and yes it is squishy. The nipple on this bottle is the widest out there giving it a rounded breast like shape, making it so baby can latch on naturally. Since this bottle is made the way it is, you do not have a lip to get the last drop of milk around as it is straight in the inside all the way to the nipple. The nipple is also the softest on the market making it more realistic for baby as they don't have to try and suck out of something much harder than they are used to.

Basically, it was designed with the breastfeeding mother in mind and mimics breastfeeding making it easy for baby to switch back and fourth between mom and bottle without nipple confusion or adjusting the latch for each.

It is also dishwasher safe which will be great when I go back to work and am having to wash bottles like crazy.



The bottle was delivered Saturday and we tried it out for the first time yesterday. He did the same thing he did with the other bottles and played with the nipple a bit, but I knew it was going to be different when he pulled it deeper into his mouth and sucked a bit. We took a small break and then went back to trying it, as I did not want him to get too hungry to the point of crying otherwise the bottle was out the window for that feeding. He starting sucking a little more and eventually pulled the whole nipple into his mouth and latched on as if he had done it before...well he has, just not on a bottle!

I did not force the bottle into his mouth, nor would I ever, as doing so will just make him mad and I'd rather him not hate having to be bottle fed because it was forced. I had the bottle filled with a single ounce so if he did not take the bottle the milk would not be completely wasted. To my surprise, he drank the whole ounce! I was incredibly proud of him. Since it was only an ounce and he eats probably close to 3, I did feed him more afterwards and he switched back with no issues.

Needless to say, I felt a little stress go away. I had no idea what I would do if I could not get him to take a bottle. I couldn't go back to working hoping he would be starving enough to take a bottle from whoever will be watching him. I would never put him through such a horrible thing. Just having him cry because he wouldn't take a few of the other bottles was difficult. (Can you tell that I don't believe in letting a baby cry? He should never cry because he is frustrated with eating...among other things.)

Although it is expensive, it is totally worth it to have my baby content with eating from a bottle. And it is definitely worth my peace of mind knowing that he won't be miserable while I am working. I just hope that the 2nd kid takes these in the future...I refuse to go through this bottle charade again!

Next: to find a paci, or not to find a paci.......maybe his fist will do just fine!

As of Now

Daxton is growing and changing everyday. 3 weeks ago or so he started to make the smallest of baby noises every now and then. Now he does this all the time and even smiles along with it. The social smiles are the best because I know he is actually smiling and reacting to me and not just smiling as a reflex in his sleepy state. He is enjoying play time/tummy time more and more and enjoys when we lay him on his back and talk with him. He enjoys being awake with us for that short time before I feed him and put him down for his nap. Although, he does cry when he fights sleep--which he likes to do during the day, there is just so much excitement that he does not want to miss I guess! He is a happy, smiley baby!

A few weeks ago it was much crazier around here. Daxton was crying at all hours. He would cry when he woke up and would not stop until he was fed, then he would cry until we got him to sleep which could sometimes take hours and after the next feeding. We did not put him on his back much because the spitting up was happening way too often. The pediatrician recommended we keep him upright for at least 30 minutes after eating before we lay him down to sleep, as hard as this was over night, we did, and then he would still spit up. He would even wake up from a deep sleep screaming just to spit up. His pediatrician thought that acid reflux was the problem and started him on Prilosec, the only change I noticed was that the spitting up was happening at least 4 times per feeding, and more times in between. It was also a bigger amount and almost seemed as if he was spitting up everything that he had ate. I decided to skip a dose the next day only to be pleasantly surprised when he only spit up about twice during the day. The next day we gave him his dose, and sure enough he was spitting up again. We used our better judgment and stopped giving him the medicine. While this was happening, he was also diagnosed with a milk protein allergy so I was told to avoid all milk and soy products. We think this is the sole problem as we have seen much improvement over the last couple of weeks. We are glad to see him happier and having less belly pain. He still spits up, but not nearly as much as he had been.

As of 7 weeks, he likes listening to music...pink, Jack Johnson, Fun, Maroon 5, etc., but don't put on Jason Mraz-I Won't Give Up On Us, it only makes his bottom lip quiver and cry. He also thinks that ceiling fans are the funniest thing put in this world, he just stares away at them smiling and laughing. They don't even have to be on! He likes trying to find the birds outside and sunbathing on the deck. I am pretty sure the outdoors are his favorite place to be, he is going to love hiking! We also started putting him down at night on his belly since sleeping on his back only causes him to wiggle and make the craziest of noises (well, 2 nights now) and it has been great. First night he slept two 4 hr stretches, and the 2nd night he slept a 5 hour stretch, followed by a 3 hour stretch. Woo hoo! Sleep!

Next on our list of things to conquer....finding a bottle that he approves of because he dislikes Dr. Brown, Nuk, Avent, and Mam. Playtex drop-ins latex nipple, here we come, don't let me down!!




Dax's 1 month picture (even though we are closing in on 2 months):

 

Oh yes, expect one of these tie pictures each month! =)

P.S. He was supposed to be nakie, but I freaked about having him pee on Devin's tie!