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Baby J is none of those things. I love him and he's precious but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the crying and the sleepless nights aren't getting to me. Basically I haven't slept since June 28, can't I be labeled clinically insane yet? JMan really tries to help but until men can breastfeed there's not a lot he can do. It's really really really REALLY unfair that the woman not only has to carry the baby AND birth it AND feed it AND has to bear all the sleepless nights too.
But let's recap how Baby J's doing in his 5th week.
Baby J's Health: Baby J is a MONSTER BABY. He likes to eat a LOT and it shows. Everyday I marvel over how freaking big he is. At his 1 month appointment he weighed 9 lbs 12.5 ozs, but I'm sure he's well over 10 pounds by now.
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Monster Baby with a friend's baby who was not only born at 40 weeks (instead of 37) but is also 3 weeks older. My baby will eat your baby for breakfast.
My Health: Well, I don't get much sleep and I never get to nap. I swear Baby J is perfecting a new type of torture to debut on Homeland or something. This week I've also developed a new horrible symptom: terrible upper back and neck pain, which appears to be from poor posture while breastfeeding. All I can say is OUCH. A few days I couldn't even really turn my neck.
I AM down 2 more pounds since my 4-week body update though, yay me! Still a whopping 9 pounds to go. I do try to get some exercise every day and I even have started running! I am OUT-OF-SHAPE! The farthest I've run so far without stopping is 19 minutes, but I'm slow and my cardio fitness is poor. I also can barely do 10 push-ups on my knees! SAD. That needs to be remedied ASAP!
Sleeping: Totally hit or miss. He's certainly not a prodigy in this department though. Most nights are pretty good though, with good nights meaning he gives us a few 2+ hour stretches of sleeping. He usually wakes to eat about 3 times between 11pm-8am, though since the last time is around 6am and I will normally be getting up then I guess it's about 2 times. It's usually around 1:30am, 4:00am, and again at 6:00am. Bad nights he's up to eat what seems like every hour. Horrible nights he decides to be awake from 2am-6am.
He's certainly the most precious when he's sleeping!
Napping: Napping is BAD. I really need to work on getting him into a better schedule that involves regular naps. Most days he pretty much refuses to nap in the traditional sense, and must instead be lulled to sleep in his car seat via the BOB or the car or by my movement in the Ergo. For some reason he'll cry when I'm holding him but pop him in the Ergo and he's happy. That thing is the #1 hands-down best gift we received! It does seem like both him and I are SWELTERING in the blanket he's basically wrapped in plus this heat (who wants to buy us some AC?!?!) but it's worth it to stop the crying FOR SURE. I do know this is just a crutch though and I need to figure this issue out. Suggestions??? I've read Baby Wise but I refuse to let him cry it out this young.
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He likes it?
Eating: Baby J eats a lot. Duh, that's why he's HUGE. He eats every 2-3 hours but sometimes more often (never less often, unfortunately!), so it's really hard to predict his hunger. You'll think you have a few hours to go to Target until he's starving just 30 minutes after you finished feeding him. I think he might be going through a growth spurt this week because the feedings seem more erratic than normal. Sometimes the feeding sessions are MARATHONS too- going on for nearly an hour. So yes, pretty much all I do ALL-DAY-AND-NIGHT-LONG is feed him! It's seriously a full time job. I laugh when people ask what I did that day. Um, I watched another episode of Friday Night Lights???
Pumping: Have I mentioned how much I hate pumping? I was doing a HORRIBLE job of pumping consistently but I am proud to say I did a good job this week of meeting my goal of pumping every-single-day (once a day, in the morning). I'm trying to build up a decent freezer stash for when I have to go back to work for a few days at the end of this month.
J's likes: After the first few baths where he screamed, J seems to like bath time now - very relaxing! As I mentioned above, he loves to eat and he loves to ride in the Ergo. He's only had a bottle a few times but he seems to love it - probably because it gets him his food faster! Sometimes he likes the pacifier, but most of the time he doesn't care for it. At this point he very sadly doesn't seem to like much else. He laid on his playmat for 10 minutes or so without screaming finally - so we'll call that a win even though he didn't exactly LIKE it!! Baby J hasn't smiled yet even though I'm DYING for one, I shamelessly beg him everyday but he's not listening! :-)
Look at that belly! COME ON BABY J, GIVE US A SMILE!!!!!
Visitors: We've had a TON of visitors - everyone is so nice to come visit! We LOVE visitors! Those that came in the early weeks got to hold a quiet, precious baby that slept in their arms peacefully. Those that came later held a screaming infant for a few minutes before they gladly relinquished him. :-)
J's dislikes: He sure does seem to dislike a lot right about now. They say crying peaks around 6-8 weeks - I sure hope this is the worst of it. It's funny to look back now at the first few weeks and think of those as the "good old days" when he slept more and cried less! At the time those days seemed so hard, so I wish I'd documented it and been doing these updates all along! Everyone keeps saying it will get better, but honestly, so far it has gotten worse as he's gotten older!
It will get better, right???? I will sleep again someday??? Any and all suggestions / advice are welcome!
