I posted yesterday about Brody’s adventures at 1 month old, so there isn’t too much to add with this post. Instead I’ll just show off pictures of my adorable little boy (not that I am biased or anything)
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Venti please!
I’ve found the secret to success in surviving the first couple months of mommyhood: Venti White Chocolate Mocha. Ahh, the days I make a trip through my favortie drive-thru I feel on top of the world!
Of course after the caffeine high and no nap, I’m ready to crash by 8pm.
Brody’s 1 month "birthday" & 1 month doctor appt
Today was Brody’s one month check-up. He’s now 10lbs 1oz and 23inches long! He’s in the 90th percentile for his length and 50th percentile for his weight. So if it’s any indicator of what’s to come, he’ll be a tall guy. While the nurse was measuring him, she kept mentioning how alert and active he was. He was so well behaved and just kept looking around and observing everything.
First, we talked about the blood in his diaper. It lingered for a couple days after his appointment last week but appears to be gone. Since I’m now planning to start formula feeding more frequently, we talked about whether or not I should stick with the soy version that we started last week. He said that we should stick with the same formula for at least a month and make sure that the blood doesn’t reappear. Then down the road if we want to try a milk-based formula again, we’ll talk about it.
The other big item I was worried about is his fussiness after he eats. I am not sure if it is typical gassiness or if he has something else wrong (reflux can occur in babies). He said though it could be reflux, before he prescribes medicine he thinks we should give it some time and see if it gets better. He said that as his muscles become stronger it may just resolve itself. He recommended gas drops and to just call if it gets worse.
Also, since he seems to have trouble falling asleep at night when we lay him flat on his back, I asked about a sleep positioner which will prop him up a bit on an incline. Our doc said to definitely go ahead and use one if it works. He used one with his daughter and loved it. So maybe that will help get Brody back to sleep better at night.
Then Brody needed to get his second round of the hepatitis B shot. He handled it like a pro! The nurse gave him the shot and he didn’t even flinch. Then after she was done, all of a sudden he got this look on his face like, “what the heck just happened?!?” and cried for about 10 seconds. Then he was calm and happy again. Let’s hope he handles the 2 month shots just as well!
Breastfeeding woes
This blog is meant to be about Brody and the path to his arrival. However, since he’s eats 8-12 times a day, breastfeeding has been consuming both his life and mine for the last 4 weeks. It’s been a very difficult road for us and therefore seems fitting to write about it here.
Today, you’ll hear from nurses, doctors, birthing class teachers and almost any book you read : Breastfeeding is the best for babies. There are a ton of benefits from breastfeeding and obviously I want to give my son the best start in life. So from the beginning I expected to breastfeed for at least 6 months.
However, for something that is supposed to be so natural (formula wasn’t always around), it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. For a variety of reasons, it was very difficult for me to breastfeed. Not only was it painful, but it became both physically and emotionally draining for me. To be completely honest, there were a couple nights where I cried while holding him due to the stress. (As a bit of background, I’ve never done well on lack of sleep – tears come easy when I’m sleep deprived)
Since Brody wasn’t gaining weight as quickly as they wanted, I continued to breastfeed until he was back to his birthweight. At 3 weeks I decided to switch to exclusively pumping. I no longer nurse, but I feed Brody pumped breast milk in a bottle instead. He’s still getting the benefit of breastmilk and I get to keep my sanity. There haven’t been any tears since. Plus in the first week of pumping, he gained almost a pound. Obviously we’re doing something right!
However, exclusively pumping isn’t a picnic either. Not only do I spend 20 minutes feeding Brody a bottle, then I spend another 20 minutes or so pumping. Plus he’s eating more than I can pump for him, so we are giving him one bottle of formula once a day.
I’m honestly not sure how long I can keep up the pumping schedule, but I’m taking it a day at a time. Even if “breast is best,” I do believe that formula is not poison and I know a ton of smart, healthy adults that were fed formula as a baby. So stay tuned…
Brody is 4 weeks
Brody’s first unscheduled doctor appointment
Things I never thought I’d say or do until I became a Mom
I know this list will continue to expand as Brody grows older, but here’s what I’ve found myself doing/saying so far:
-I never realized how much I’d miss taking a shower regularly (and taking one longer than 3 minutes)
-I’ve never been so excited to have time to clean the house
-I never thought I’d wake a sleeping baby
-I never thought I’d be able to survive on only 2 hours of consecutive sleep at a time for 2 1/2 weeks straight
-I never thought that the most frequent topic of conversation in our house would be breastfeeding
-I never realized I could fall even more in love with my husband
Brody is 3 weeks today!
He is still too young to really have a routine but he seems to have developed a pattern. Every other day he’s awake and fussy most of the day. The days in between, he sleeps like crazy. Yesterday was a fussy day and so far today he’s been pretty sleepy.
Other adventures this week included going out to dinner twice and going to the mall again. We also had some visitors over the weekend, where Brody met his Aunt Karen & Uncle Chris (Karen is one of my best friends & her husband Chris). He also was fed for the first time by someone other than Jason or me. J’s best friend Todd fed him a bottle, which was also his first time feeding a baby. It was adorable.
The many faces of Brody
Brody’s "First Word"
Jason and I are convinced that Brody has already spoken his first word: “ow.”
Every once in awhile after Brody sneezes, he makes this adorable noise that sounds like “ow.” It’s really cute and the first time we heard it we both swore that is what he was saying.
Last night we had our first non-biased witnesses to this behavior. They agreed with us that is what is sounded like. So I’m officially convinced, at less than 3 weeks old, our genius baby is already talking!