Thursday, April 30, 2015

bump #95: 6 weeks

Ollie Bear is 6 weeks old today.


He makes a lot more baby sounds lately. Nothing that at all resembles any actual words, but sweet little sounds nonetheless. He also snores, which I love because I'm the mom that will hover over him all night to ensure that he's still breathing. I still do that, but his snoring is reassuring. He also drools on occasion, but now I'm just bragging :)



He weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces, nurses every two hours, and destroys at least 12 diapers a day. The pediatrician said he is in the 9th percentile which sounds low to me, but he is gaining weight and growing so I'm not worried. In fact, once these newborn diapers are done (probably in the next couple hours!) he is moving up to size 1. 


We spend A LOT of time here changing diapers!
I am so grateful for my 8 week maternity leave and all the time I've gotten to spend with him. It will be hard to go back to work, but the bonus of teaching is that Summer break is right around the corner and that's another 8 weeks of special bonding time. Yay! In the meantime I scheduled all our doctor's appointments this week... my 6 week post birth follow up, a dentist appointment, and his check up. Maternity leave is great for getting all that stuff done. And my C-section is all healed up with minimal scarring. To be honest, I still have a 6 month pregnant looking belly so there is literally a fat roll that covers the incision, making it practically invisible. Hooray for distracting layers of chub. Obesity for the win! I gained almost 30 pounds from pre-fertility treatment to pregnancy, to delivery. And at this point I've only lost 15. Oops. But aside from none of my clothes fitting, I don't really care. I've never been the image of fitness so why start now?!

Even though he's still so tiny and brand new, I think I've already made a few parenting mistakes... I breastfeed on demand which means constantly so he is not on any kind of schedule, and I pick him up immediately whenever he cries. Even though Oliver has a Rock 'n Play Sleeper and a Mamaroo bouncer, he fusses unless he is being held. So I hold him all the time.  Even though he has a crib and a bassinet, he sleeps best in our bed (safely don't worry!). So I'm not really getting any sleep ever. Oh well, I've got plenty of time to figure out this parenting thing. And first babies are trial runs, right?!

Oliver goes back and forth on whether he likes his bouncers or not. This week it's a firm NO.

A friend at work gave me this book...


Is that wishful thinking?
How and when did you get your babies on a schedule?
Will he ever really sleep through the night... or for more than an hour and a half at a time even?

3 comments:

  1. He's so adorable! I think I will be the type to constantly worry so we decided to make a cosleeper so he can be right next to us during the night.

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  2. He is such a cute little pumpkin! Hope the last 2 weeks of your maternity leave go by slowly so you can enjoy them :) With the twins, we started working towards a schedule basically from day 1, because with 2, you have to keep them doing things at the same time or else you're constantly feeding. I'd say we started to settle into a pretty predictable routine around 4-6 weeks. When we moved them to their nursery (in rock n plays) at 6 weeks, they started to sleep longer at night. By 12 weeks, they were pretty consistently sleeping through the night, which was convenient since that's when I went back to work!

    Not that you are asking for advice, but what worked well for us in the sleeping department were the following: moving them to their own room, noise machine, consistent bedtime routine, and an early bedtime (7:30/8 pm). Best of luck, mama!

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  3. From what I've read, you can't spoil at this age. 'm reading The Happy Sleeper, and it gives some gentle ideas for 0-4 months, but really, you aren't doing anything wrong right now. I read one book that suggested putting an 8 week old in a crib and letting them cry for 2.5 hours, and I got sick to my stomach. I can not imagine letting my baby girl cry that long! She is 12 weeks, and I'm just now trying to let her cry for maybe 45 seconds to a minute before tending to her, to see if she can settle herself down. That is hard enough!

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