Mommy Survival Skills

I just found that the easiest way to have fresh formula which is also at a temperature that Alex will drink right away.  I've been stashing a small can of powder in my diaper bag and filling up a 16-20 oz bottle of water to bring along. I found that premixing formula wasn't working since I had to keep it cold in a thermos next to an ice pack. Alex won't drink cold formula.  Yesterday, I was desperate to find a way to warm up the formula I had or somehow get new. I stopped in a convenience store, bought a can of powder and non-refrigerated bottled water.  I mixed formula with that warmer water as needed. I wouldn't have to keep the water cold like I would with mixed formula. (Those 2 oz bottle 8 packs are a total rip-off.)

I had Alex in Manhattan yesterday and it was too hot for him to nurse. He hates the heat and won't stay still for it when hot. Sigh, just like his mom. Oh, and about the heat. I cool off his receiving blankets in my diaper bag by inserting a mylar ice pack in the same fold with them. He loves having a cool blanket to lie on.

June 30, 2007

Turning a Sleepy Corner

Alex slept through the night twice!!! Last night - 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM.  Wednesday night - 9:30 PM to 6:30 AM!

And he's mostly BF'ed with only some supplemented formula! WOOT!

June 30, 2007

Diaper Change! Diaper Change! Yay!

Alex goes wild with the giggles and laughs when he knows he's going to be changed. In the middle of the night, it's all my husband can do to tear himself away from playing with him on the changing table because that's when Alex will chat and laugh up a storm.


I know it must feel good to get out of a wet diaper, but cause for glee like this?
 

June 24, 2007

Sniffles in a Little Nose

Alex has sounded like he has a ton of congestion lately.  To aid his sleeping, I tried to create an incline by placing a towel underneath the sleeping surface of his bassinette. He never managed to stay within the incline, but always wound up sliding down, with only his neck propped up at the turn of the incline. I figured that was worse.

Then Dr. Glassman told us that the congestion is normal. Out came the towel. Alex is a lot happier.  He hated that incline.  Good thing he doesn't need it to sleep like other babies do.

June 24, 2007

Moment of the Day

Those big toothless grins are day makers.


My Moment of the Day came when Alex was a little cranky after his dinner. He had been quietly entertaining himself in his bassinette for a long time, but eventually got bored and wanted company. I took him out and placed him on my bed with me.

He chatted up a STORM! He kept cooing, ooohing and cah-ing at all different volume levels. He would smile broadly while we chatted. I played some games with him and he just kept it up.  Then Dan joined us and it still went on while Alex chatted with him too. It took at least 20 minutes before Alex had to retreat from overstimulation.

It was one of the chattiest moments I've had with him yet.
 

June 22, 2007

No Tummy Time!

Alex hates Tummy Time with a passion. He wants to move and roll over when he's in that position. He winds up getting frustrated and crying over it.  A while ago, I was out walking on Mamaroneck Avenue with Alex in the Jeep pocuh, a physical therapist stopped us to see Alex and chat.  She told me that Tummy Time on your chest still serves the same purpose as being on a hard surface. Since he loves that most of the time, we do that a lot. I also tote him around in my Jeep carrier daily and he's gaining a lot of head control that way too.

His head control is really good for his age. He was able to roll over in one direction when he was only days old, but he's since lost interest in doing it now.  He doesn't have good dexterity in pushing himself up with his arms, but he doesn't appear to try very hard either.

Dr. Glassman said that it's not expected at his current age.

June 22, 2007

Chow Hound

Some babies eat tons in one meal, had a few times across a day. Not Alex! He's still eating at least 7-8 times a day.  He won't get on a normal schedule either. He eats roughly at 1, 5, 8, 10, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 11. Unfortunately for us, the meal he seems to be dropping first is the 11 PM one.


Oh well, at least he's happy and thriving.

June 21, 2007

Bad Temper?

I think Alex may have a bad temper. I can't yet figure out if the quick frustration level is due to his personality or just his age.


He has LOTS of "rules", it seems and will display an expression of frustration if we break them. He has select positions he wants to be in while breastfeeding. He sometimes wants to be BF'ed. He sometimes wants to be bottle-fed. If we go the "wrong" route, he will push away the breast or bottle in what seems to be a frustrated and angry gesture. Right now, I have him on my lap nursing as I type this. He seems to want me to stop because he keeps grunting as he'll do when annoyed and feeding and he's using his legs to push against my arms as I type.

We're pretty quick to respond to his vocalizations and it seems he's now used to that. As a result, if I pick him up and turn towards what he considers the "wrong" room to attend to whatever need, he'll vocalize a grunt or cry in objection.  We fear giving him too much "Tummy Time" because he gets PO'ed when he can't turn over...which is the result of too little Tummy Time. But if we leave him too long like that, he cries in frustration.

The good thing we've noticed is that he seems to be differentiating complaints now. He's taking to vocalizing a loud call instead of crying sometimes when he wants our attention.

It may be just the age. I dunno yet.

June 21, 2007

The Battle to Save Supply!

I've been battling my breastmilk supply ever since Alex's sixth week. I had to break down and supplement with formula when my little preemie dude hit his second growth spurt at that time. Rather than his cluster feedings lasting only a day or two, they lasted for ten days that time. I simply couldn't keep up, nursing him every hour sometimes. I broke down and supplemented with formula, fearful that it would kill my milk supply.


That was six weeks ago and I was able to get my milk supply back up by just pumping around his formula feeding. He's in another cluster feed marathon now and I had to bypass some BF'ing again, but by pumping often, I was able to get the milk supply back up. I went from a low point of his diet being some 60% formula in some weeks to it now being about 20% formula.  What used to be only 2 oz per pumping session is once again 4 oz per session and still increasing.

I try to remember that stress also decreases milk supply as will a poor diet and a lack of sufficient water.  I also went an entire day on formula while pumping to store. I was able to get 34 oz stored in the freezer, which allowed me a headstart on pumping surplus when I returned to BF'ing for all feedings save two.

Here's hoping I can save it.  C'mon Alex! We both need this!

June 16, 2007

Yeeeow! What was that??

Alex had his immunizations recently.  His post shot symptoms lasted about two days. The physical side of it showed up as lots of sleep and little appetite.


But the emotional trauma. Yeesh! He howled at the slightest thing and needed to be rocked all the time.  He seemed to get past it and trust us again after two days.

Sorry little guy, but it's necessary.  Stay healthy, if cranky!

June 14, 2007

Aliens Stole My Baby

I can think of no other explanation.


Last Saturday, I had my normal 10 week old. He cried only when he was hungry or needed a diaper change. He loved to talk and laugh. He could get hours of entertainment out of his mobile, ipod Munchkin with the changing lights or his Bobblin' Band bouncer.

Sunday, he was suddenly the Unhappiest Baby in the World.  He cries constantly (during the day only so far). When eating, he pushes the bottle or my breast away, then cries becauss he's hungry. He refuses to nurse at times and also refuses the bottle. He cries as if he has gas, but cries when I try to burp him. He cries if I talk to him. He cries if I leave him alone.  He just cried now and I had to stop and pick him up to walk around.

He doesn't arch as if he has gas or reflux. The only thing that seems to calm him down is my walking around with him. Even then, if I Jeep him up and am out for too long, he'll start crying - especially if I stopped walking at any point. He's 11 weeks old today. I've been going through this for four days now. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I have no idea what brought on this sudden change in his disposition. Is this some developmental phase?

Once Again Walking Around With Alex. 
 

June 13, 2007

Sleepy, Sleepy Mama

Not getting any more sleep on this end yet. I really don't expect to until Alex is four months old at least. Normally, Dan takes the 1 AM feeding. Lately, he's had to wake Alex up for it and Alex won't take a whole meal at the time, but he'll still eat. If we don't wake him up at 1 to eat a little, then he'll wake up at 3 to eat a little. This may mean he's phasing out that feeding. We don't know yet.


This morning, he wouldn't even take a whole meal at 5 AM, when he's usually ravenous at that time. He broke it up as half a meal then and half a meal an hour later.

June 11, 2007

Father and Son

I took Alex to the nearby marina on Friday afternoon. I told Dan to meet us there after work. I was able to capture this cool pic of Dan and Alex:

So I made it into a card for Dan. You can't FIND "First" Father's Day cards anywhere! I got First Mother's Day cards. Sigh.

I think he'll like it.

June 10, 2007

Hush Little Baby

When Alex smiles and laughs he does those "full body smiles" that infants his age do. The laugh takes over his whole body while he flails his arms and jerks his legs. It's really wonderful to watch.

I need those laughs these days. I could use with more sleep, of course. I can expect to keep losing sleep for the next 4-6 weeks unfortunately. He's kinda-sorta sleeping through one feeding sometimes. At this point, he sleeps longer than he normally does at his 1 AM feeding. For a while, he'll grunt and groan like he's about to wake up because he's hungry, but he won't wake up. When he does, sometimes as late as 2:30-4, he'll only want one ounce instead of his usual four at that time. He does the same thing during his long nap during the day. He should want to eat at 1 PM, but struggles to stay asleep instead.

I'm really trying to shedule some tiring events right before those sleep stretches, but it's tough to do. It's especially tough to plan a bath after his 10 PM feeding because I'll have dishes from our dinner in the sink at the time and I don't get always get the chance to wash them because he's often awake and needs attention. If I take time to do it at 11 PM after his feeding, he'll have fallen asleep already. Then giving him a bath seems to defeat the purpose.

Oh well. That's the way it goes for infants, I guess. I still have to try to sleep when he does.

June 5, 2007

Two Months Old

Alex went to his two month old check up on Thursday. (He's 9 weeks and 2 days old today, June 1) The Tallest Preemie in Westchester now measures 22 inches and weighs 10 lbs, 12 oz. The doctor is thrilled with his growth and weight gain, as well as his big eating for such a little guy. He also began his immunizations at this check up. He received immunizations against polio, diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepititis B, pnuemonia, influenza and rotavirus (a digestive tract attacker). Needless to say three shots and one oral administration in one day left him completely beat. He slept through half his meals through the next 24 hours. When he did eat, it was 2/3 of what he would usually eat. Today, when he started coming out of the reaction, he ate with a vengeance, but couldn't handle it. He tried to down his "Hungry Man" 6 oz meal that he takes from time to time. Not a good call. After a 24 hour cut back, he was spitting up the last ounce he could even try to drink. Then he'd get frustrated over not being able to eat more.

The poor thing was more emotionally traumatized than feeling physically pained from the immunizations. Yesterday, when he wasn't sleeping, he'd cry almost inconsolably unless he was held up against my or Dan's chest and rocked.

On the development front, he's now laughing spontaneously all the time save any time I want to capture a picture of it. Then he stops and stares at this thing in front of my face. He's showing a strong interest in grabbing for his toys, expressing frustration when he can't reach them. He gets all grumpy when the mobile in his crib stops. He's getting very sociable. He now wants to be in his bouncer in whatever room contains the action. Last weekend we had three of Dan's friends over and Alex would not sleep in his bassinet in the living room while they were here. He just HAD to be in his bouncer, placed on the floor at the egde of the dining room, where he slept through hours of adult talking and laughing. He loves to be in his bouncer next to my desk chair, napping while I'm on the computer. He loves to be on the bed with Dan, napping while he watches TV. He's also showing a strong desire to talk. He talks to us, to the pets, to the Munchkin iPod on his crib, his favorite doll, his mobiles, the herbs and flowers on the porch and something to his right when he's seated in the den with me. He now looks forward to at least 20-30 minutes of conversation with Dan when Dan gets home from work each evening.

June 1, 2007