Think Es fave sums it up. First month of being alive is essentially all about the 'what da f**k' moments. Especially the second time around. You think you know what to expect having been through it already, I tell you now. YOU DONT!!
For the first 2 weeks during the day E was/sometimes still does feed every hour. But during the nights she was sleeping in her basket for 3-4 hours, having a quick feed and going back down for another 3-4 hours. Perfect!
Then just before she turned 3 weeks that all changed. Crazy evening fussiness, feeding so often from me that she was sick whilst feeding (bork) it was hard because I didn't know if and when it would stop so that I could sleep!
We started Infacol. This didn't seem to help, things reached their peak last week when she screamed in hunger/pain from 7pm-2am then happily went to sleep in her basket for 4 hours!
I turned to Twitter for advice and as usual I received plenty and some great advice. Sore gums/colic/reflux/fore/hind milk imbalance/teething/allergys. I googled and googled and googled. She had occasional symptoms of some things but noting regular. Some days she will be hugely sick and go 2-3 hours between feeds and be content during the day and then scream all night. Some days she will feed every hour and be calm and content and scream in the afternoon. Sometimes no screaming, some days no sick... And so on.
In sheer frustration I got cross, looking at all this advice and medicine suggestions for all the different things she may have and I may end up treating colic when she has reflux or an allergy. I stopped the Infacol and went back to feeding completely on demand. I was feeding on demand but trying to hold it back a bit if I thought she was feeding for comfort so she wasn't sick. I did this for 4 days, she was so calm, content and happy.
Yesterday she got a bit twisty again, instant panic, I've eaten something different, she's got a bug etc etc. Then I calmly told myself, babies cry, sometimes just because they can. So I've made the decision to not stress until there is a definite pattern and just accept that babys poo weird/fight sleep/cry/be sick and just get on with my life until I think there's cause for concern! As the biggest worrier in the world when it comes to my babies being ill I know I'll pick up on it when/if the time comes.
So these are my parenting stats of Es first month.
E weight gain: 11ozs on top of birth weight, up to last week.
Feeding: was exclusive up until Friday night when I'd had no chance to express and I needed to sleep and couldn't face feeding her for a 4th hour! So one bottle of formula has been introduced so OH can feed, I get about an hour to myself to bath/tidy/put T to bed. (SMA milk if anyone's interested) Formula feeds will increase to 2 feeds a day within the next week or two, and Yep she will be fully on formula at some point in the next few weeks/months, and I'm cool with that decision.
Sleeping: gone from sleeping beautifully in her basket to not at all. So for the first 3-5 hours a night I feed, put her in her basket, read for 20 minutes and repeat. Occasionally she'll do 2-3 hours in there, but this is rare so she's been coming into bed with us. For the record I hate cosleeping. But we live in a bungalow and Ts room is next to ours, if I leave her to scream for a bit no one gets any sleep. I will persevere with getting her to sleep on her own because I want my sleep back! But that will come with time.
So that's basically our first month in a nutshell. It's hard, it's frustrating, the guilt is overwhelming, I've cried thinking my milk is hurting her, it's mentally draining, the guilt of dealing with a fussy baby 24/7 when you have a 4 y/o in need of your love and affection is so difficult I can't tell you. But it's worth it for those little moments in the day where everything's just great even for only 5 minutes!
No comments:
Post a Comment