Stats: Healthy boy! He weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz (44th%), is 23.5" long (67th%) and his head is 15.8" around (52nd%). Percentiles according to CDC. The WHO percentiles calculate a little differently to 27%, 70%, and 78% respectively. Apparently, worldwide, babies are fatter but shorter and with smaller heads than American babies? He's been eating perfectly for his weight (recommendation is approximately 2.5 times his weight in fluid ounces) at between 28-30 ounces (benefits of bottle feeding continue...) daily, so even with all the spitting up he's been doing this month, he's still a healthy boy!
Health: Reflux reared it's ugly head during this month. I called the clinic the week before christmas, asking for advice because he wasn't sleeping at night, and had started projectile vomiting, and I was on the phone with the clinic nurse explaining what was going on and just started laughing manically from sleep deprivation! So Bennett is on baby Zantac, just like Callie was. And it's gotten better. He still spits up absurd amounts and requires like 5 outfit changes a day, But at least he's a happy spitter.
And as it turns out, since Bryann neglected to tell me, HE had horrible reflux when he was a baby. Cherie told me he had to be on soy formula because he would projectile vomit across the room! Here I was feeling guilty, like my pregnancy heartburn had something to do with my children's reflux, and it was Bryann's fault all along! (Now everybody chant: "Bryann's fault! Bryann's fault!")
Sleep: The beginning of the 2nd month was rough. As I said, he wasn't sleeping well. He would sleep for a little while, and then spit up and be awake and pissed (presumably because he was spitting up and I'm sure his esophagus hurt!) So we'd feed him some more and rock him and soothe him and try to put him back down. But the second he was on his back again he'd wake up pissed. We tried a small wedge to lift him up a bit but that didn't help much.
After we saw the pediatrician about the reflux, she said they didn't want him sleeping on his back from the risk of asphyxiation, so we bought a rock 'n play (rocking bassinet thing) that he know sleeps in. Bryann called it the "miracle bed" after the first night using it. And since elevating him at night, he sleeps pretty well - eats around 2am, 5am, and up at 7am.
Just recently we've been able to establish somewhat of a routine bedtime and he goes to sleep around 8pm. When both of us are home, one of us puts Callie down and one of us puts Bennett down. Bryann has had both kids at night before though, and he wraps up Bennett in the swaddle and pacifies him, then brings him in Callie's room and does her bedtime routine, then puts Bennett down.
So far for naps, he is still in the swing in the living room. Lately I've been able to turn off the swing and he'll keep sleeping. I can't remember when Callie started napping well in her crib, but I look forward to that day!
Clothes/Diaper Size: He is filling out 0-3 mo and 3mo clothes really nicely, and wearing size 1 diapers.
Diet: I started the month still pumping 3-4 times a day and was only pumping like 6-8 oz a day, and continually getting engorged (what?! seriously?!) and, in addition to a milk blister that would NOT go away on my left breast, I had been experiencing severe, shooting pains in my breasts. Almost debilitating. When I felt them, I would instinctively reach up and grab my boob (which Bryann found embarrassing when we were in public). I decided, with Bryann behind me questioning why I was putting myself through this misery to produce less than a third of what he was eating, to stop pumping. It took about 3 weeks, but by Christmas I was pump free. I'm not sure I was even sad to see the end of that relationship. It's hard to have a relationship with a pump. I remember being sad to have stopped pumping for Callie, but I wasn't so miserable and in so much pain while pumping for her either.
When I was really done providing breast milk for Bennett, I felt simultaneously relieved that I was done and guilty for feeling relieved. But I am free and the agony of both the pumping and of making that hard decision is over. And today, I feel completely fine. I did what I could for him, and sooooo many things about it just weren't working. And I think we're both happier for it now.
Since he started spitting up so much early this month, I stopped feeding him my pumped breast milk. He spit up my breast milk one time and I actually cried about it. Lately I've been using some of the breast milk donated by a friend and he's been doing really well with it.
We also switched him over to the gentle/sensitive formula to try to address his gassiness (and also maybe affect the spit-up) and we've seen a pretty drastic improvement on his gas. Hopefully he outgrows it and we don't have to buy that stuff forever because OHMYGOD IS IT EXPENSIVE, and OHMYGOD HIS POOP STINKS!!
Speaking of poop, he has been an every other day pooper lately. I think we have another slow-colon kid which means I'm already on high alert for constipation issues later on.
Baby Gear Love: The rock n' play has legitimately been miracle bed for us lately. Who knows when we'll be able to lay him down flat (read:transfer him to his crib), but in the meanwhile, that thing is a god send
Still daily using and loving the swing!
Ergo
Solly wrap - I like this way better than the Moby. They're tied the same way, but the Solly is way thinner and stretchier, so it's really easy to pack. It stays in the diaper bag and I use it whenever we're out.
Speaking of diaper bags, my parents bought be a monster sized diaper bag that I'm currently in love with because it holds ALL OF THE THINGS! We go to the gym several times a week and bring both kids and it is amazing.
Nicknames: Mister, Benny-Bear, Baby Bennett
Favorite Songs/Lullabies: I've been singing "Sweet Chariot" and "Blackbird" at bedtimes lately. And then, in keeping with my personality, I sing whatever random song with random words come in to my head - classics such as "Do You Know How Much I Love You?", "Yummy Yummy Yummy, Milk in my Tummy", and "This is the Poop that Never Ends"
Milestones/Firsts: First Christmas and first road trip down to Klamath Falls. Then second Christmas here at the house where he met Grandma Cherie and Great Grandpa "Papa" Joe (his namesake for his middle name). We celebrated our first New Year's Eve party at Nate and Kimber's, and he went to the zoo for Zoo Lights for the first time,
We started to see smiles this month too! And seeing him smile and interact with me lowers my anxiety about developmental issues that wouldn't have been tested for or noticed in utero. He "goos" for us and makes all kinds of other fun sounds. He really responds to people and loves to interact and "chat" with us.
His head and neck are getting stronger, too. He can essentially hold his head up when I'm holding him upright against my body and walking around the house. And when he's on the play mat, he's almost flipped himself over a few times.
Likes: Mama! Being fed. His swing. Being talked to. Being held facing outward so he can look at stuff. He likes to walk around the house and look at all of the things.
Dislikes: Car rides. I am anxious about taking him anywhere because I never know whether he's going to be chill in the car, or whether he's going to scream the entire time. Also dislikes the usual stuff like being hungry, being tired, having clothes pulled over his head.
Things I Don't Want to Forget: Callie has taken to pretending she's a little baby, and she'll often spend good chunks of time on the floor, on the play mat with Bennett. He loves to look at her, and she loves to be around him and asks him to say "Goo". She makes silly faces at him and he smiles and smiles and smiles! I hope they grow up to be friends. They are farther apart in age than I wanted, but I think their relationship already is pretty special.
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| Hanging out with Theo and Ophelia at New Year's |
