Hi Friends!
How’s it going? I guess I didn’t get around to doing a 2 month post on Reid since I mentioned some updates here. But next week, he’ll already be 3 months!
The thing I’ve learned so far as a new mom is that stages/phases are REAL. And as you reach milestones and overcome obstacles, you’re faced with a different set of challenges, haha.
Here’s what’s been going on with Reid recently. (Btw, he has his own Instagram account now @reidsmallbean).
Reid seems to be out of his fussy/needing to be held 100% of the time/or he’ll cry phase. He still likes to be held a lot, but since he’s discovered gnawing on his fists, he’s content to lounge in his Boppy pillow or owl bouncer seat and entertain himself for a bit which gives me a few minutes to eat, brush my teeth, or go to the bathroom. It actually makes a huge difference! Also, he’ll now make a wailing sound when he wants to be picked up/want attention instead of jumping right into full on crying/screaming mode.
This improved mood might be due to the fact that he’s been sleeping better! At 8 weeks, I started attempting to put him on a “schedule.” I use the term “schedule” loosely. I’ve just been trying to teach him that there are times meant for sleeping (night time in the crib) and times for naps during the day. And times meant for meals instead of just “snacking” all day.
So rather than just waiting for him to fall asleep in my arms, I’ll try to get him to sleep at dedicated times, even if it takes me over an hour to get him down, or keeping him up a little longer when it’s not nap time. Similarly, I’ve tried to get him to eat more at meal times, after which he’d get sleepy, and stay asleep for longer, as opposed to eating a little, falling asleep, and waking 20 minutes later to eat more.
Reid started doing 5 hour stretches at night, then 6, 7, and then for a while, pretty consistently did 8-9 hours at night! He even slept for 9 hours and 45 minutes one night – and yes, I was counting, haha. Then he wakes up, I feed and change him, and he sleeps another 3-5 hours. (I still stay up later to get things done and then wake up and pump so I’m not sleeping great. But it’s still awesome that he will).
We hit a bit of of road block with sleep recently though because Chris we threw him off schedule because Chris we let him nap too long and too late in the day one time. Unfortunately, it seems like it takes almost a week to correct one “bad” night. But we’re starting to get back on track, and last night was pretty good, knock on wood. I’m really afraid of this so-called 4 month sleep regression though.
Another milestone (my favorite!) has been that Reid has become so much more alert and interactive. He is very chatty and likes have “conversations” with us. (If you’ve watched my Instagram stories, you’ll see that I posted a bajillion videos of this, haha). If we talk to him, he “talks” back in jibberish. And he’ll often initiate by making eye contact and cooing at us. This can go on for 15 minutes!
He also is very smiley and has several different smiles now. He has his happy/content smile, his excited smile (plus kicks and punches) when I put him in his stroller, and one where he thinks something is “funny” or “silly.” There’s also his acknowledgement grin that he shoots back if we smile at him first. If we’re looking at our phones or focus our attention elsewhere, he’ll try to engage us. Yesterday, he even laughed a few times!
Reid is also able to completely lift his head and chest during tummy time, and will look around the room or at a toy for a long time! When he’s tired, he’ll very slowly roll back onto his back although he sometimes needs help with this.
He likes to watch us do daily tasks too, and thinks the most fascinating thing is Chris brushing his teeth with an electric tooth brush. I bring Reid grocery shopping with me now and he enjoys staring at all the produce and colorful boxes and bottles on shelves.
Having said all that…now that Reid has been more cognizant of his surroundings, he’ll get distracted when he’s supposed to be eating. That’s been our biggest challenge recently – he’s lost interest in eating! I’ll be nursing or feeding him a bottle (I’m still exclusively breastfeeding and pumping) and he’ll stop to listen to sounds in the room, to coo or smile, or to grab at my shirt or his bib when he’s only halfway done.
Reid was bottle refusing for a while, and screaming if we offered it to him. I recently discovered that he has a preference for VERY warm milk, and we weren’t warming it enough for him. So our feeding routine now is to give him a warm bottle and get as much in him as we can. He clamps down/bites on the bottle nipple when he’s had enough – luckily not too much on me yet. Then, I rewarm the bottle and he’ll drink some more (but warming milk too much destroys the nutrients). THEN, I nurse him. (If I nurse him first, he typically falls asleep, otherwise I’d just exclusively nurse). It’s a very time consuming/somewhat draining battle to get him to eat!
One might argue that if a baby is hungry enough, he’ll eat. And while that’s mostly true, we’re concerned because Reid is only at the 13th percentile for weight. While that’s considered healthy, we don’t want him to drop off the chart. If he were chubbier, I’d just let him tell me when he’s hungry!
Luckily, he’s for the most part stopped scratching himself. He was wearing mittens a lot to prevent it, but constant mitten wearing is said to hinder development so that worried me. We clipped his nails, but he still managed to stick his little fingers in his eye or pull hard on his hair. It was painful to see these cuts and gouges all over his little face.
The mom guilt is rough! Right now, I’m concerned if we should be switching him to cleaner/non-toxic diapers, especially since he rubs the outside of his diaper with his hands, and then put his hands in his mouth. I’ve been so hung up on making sure that he has organic sheets and bedding, bath products, laundry detergent, baby wipes…I didn’t think about diapers. Several of our friends mentioned going the cloth diaper or clean/organic diaper route, and now I kind of feel bad that we haven’t been.
I’m still trying to find our new balance. We have so much less free time now, and it’s been challenging to sit down uninterrupted and get anything done! Hence the much dialed back blogging frequency! So thanks to everyone for sticking with me! I usually consider it a win to check one non-Reid related item off my to-do list a day. Chris and I prioritize health, sleep, eating well, and exercise, so that makes for a messy, unorganized house. It’s frustrating, but there are only so many hours in the day. But, I FINALLY ordered a coffee table and TV stand (it took hours and hours of research). We’re going to TRY to assemble those this weekend. We shall see.
Thanks for reading Friends! I hope to be back with some new posts next week!
