Thursday, August 29, 2013

Jase’s 16th Week!!

August 22-28

Weight: Just weighed him- 15 lbs!

Showin’ off his milk belly…

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Health: So thankful for our healthy boy!! Praise the Lord. We thank Him for all of our health every day during our prayers& do our best to honor God with our bodies.

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I do think he may be teething. I don’t feel see teeth breaking through, but he is drooling like crazy and putting everything in his mouth. (I won’t put my hands in his mouth because I have "fingernails” and am afraid I’m carrying bacteria there even when my hands are clean.) Could just be normal development for his age.

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Sleep: Shew! Going to be really honest here. This was a tough week for me. The majority of naps were awesome, but we had a few times when that good ole 45 minute intruder popped in. And there was one time when I missed his “sleepy window” and he wouldn’t sleep at all….he just cried for about 20 minutes straight and finally settled, but still wouldn’t sleep.  His wake time is almost exactly an hour and a half.

I’m definitely thankful for the good naps, but he is still waking up 2 times during the night- around 1:30 or 2:30, and again around 6 or 6:30. I have been so exhausted this week that we have been inconsistent with our 7:30 start time too, which is a major no-no. I was so tired after the 6 am feeding that I slept right through my alarm most days this week. Honestly, I have felt very discouraged. Like a “mommy failure.” Doesn’t that sound so ridiculous?? (It really does when I admit it out loud….AKA- type it here.) I’m just being transparent though. I think one of the reasons is because that one of the first questions people ask me is if he’s sleeping through the night, and even though I know they aren’t, I feel like they are measuring my parenting skills based on my response and and judging me. because he isn’t. And THEIR child started sleeping through the night at like 4 days old.(Honestly, most are probably only asking out of sympathy because they can relate to the lack of sleep that can result from becoming a parent.) I almost hang my head in defeat and shame to tell them “We’re still working on it.”  BabyWise suggests most babies should be sleeping through the night before now, so I feel like it must be something I’m doing wrong for him to not be. For 16 weeks now I’ve been going to bed every night thinking “Is this the night?” And no. I hear that monitor, look at the time on my phone, & stumble up the stairs like a zombie to try to soothe him back to sleep. Every once in a while that works, but usually it doesn’t & I feed him. He has slept through the night a total of 4-5 times...but I stayed up so late those nights and had to wake up so early the next day I didn’t get to thoroughly enjoy it. (I had to for those occasions, but on a normal basis it’s my own fault. I’m in a terrible cycle of taking naps during the day, then staying up till 12:30 or 1 to get things done I don’t get done during the day.)

So this week was a week of perspective for me. Here I am with a beautiful, healthy, happy, content baby who RARELY cries & is so much more than anything I could ask or imagine…yet I am discouraged & beating myself up over the fact he’s waking up in the middle of the night? CRAZINESS! (I know we all do it…maybe not over this issue, but over something. And we SHOULDN’T.) I am working really hard to make sure I do not EVER judge other moms for anything….because we are all in this together and all doing our best. All babies are different, & mommyhood is the most gigantic learning curve EVER!

Emily has been extremely helpful & encouraging this week, so hopefully some of her tips (making sure to get full feedings) will get things moving in the right direction with sleeping through the night. (I do feel a little selfish, because a big part of it is that I am so exhausted during the day that I sleep while he sleeps and am not getting a lot done…but I also really want HIM to get that long stretch of uninterrupted sleep too because I know it’s when his body is growing and recovering.) Yes, I do see how petty this all sounds….I know part of it is just me being so tired…but at the same time, I feel like it’s important to blog about this so I’ll remember if when I feel this way in the future.

Nursing: Going well. Burping him more (I just forget) and trying to get in full feedings. He is pulling off a lot, so I feel like I almost have to “make him” keep eating. He seems to want to just snack, so I’m having to put more effort & focus into nursing than I have been. I also have to put my hair into a ponytail because he loves to pull it. Also, now when I pump I only get about 3.5- 4 oz total.

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What Jase is up to: Schedule is pretty consistent. After his morning feeding, the rest of our day is 11:-11:30, 2:30, 5:30-6, & 8:30 (then down to sleep). His wake time is almost EXACTLY and hour and a half and he can’t be awake much longer than that or he’ll miss that sleepy window. (Although that happened yesterday because we had to run an emergency errand for Daddy & he was late getting down for his nap…so he just got cranky and needed to go to bed earlier for the next one.)

This little man LOVES to be read to!!! I read to him multiple times a day & every time he just sits so content and looks at the pages.

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He is moving his mouth and mimicking my mouth motions as I talk, count, and sing ABCs.

He also REALLY acts like he wants to crawl! When we put him down in his crib, sometimes he gets up on his knees, booty in the air, pushes up on his hands and arms, and rocks. Not even four months old….is that normal? We’ll be getting out the baby gates before we know it!

LAUGHING & “talking” like crazy! It is ADORABLE!!

He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES all of his grandparents like crazy. We are so blessed in that department.

Another funny thing, everyone comments on how “deep” his voice is- his coos and laughs. So funny! I don’t really have anything to compare with, so I can’t tell, but it’s interesting that others notice that. I can’t wait to hear him talking eventually….there is NOTHING sweeter than baby talk to me. BUT, I also want to just FREEZE him right here.

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He also has started putting his arms around my neck more when I hold him and has excellent motor skills. It wasn’t just coincidence. He can take his paci out of his mouth, hold it in his hand, and can put it back in his mouth.

PostPartum: Like I said, this week was an exhausting week and I only made it to the gym once. I decided to find a way to make it work to go more because I NEED to work out.  Not that I have a lot of stress, but it really helps me clear my head, have more energy, sleep better, and just FEEL better. Plus, it’s important to my health. I can start walking with the baby more now that it’s getting cooler. (Too bad Delta broke my stroller!)

Baby Gear: play mat, bouncy seat, Huggies size 2 diapers (they actually seem a little small? wondering if it’s the brand), Baby’s First Hymns (I think I go the c.d.s from Wal-Mart- there are 2 volumes.),

Thoughts: Like I said, a big week on perspective.

I was just thinking the other day about how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my sweet Jase….and my heart immediately sank for the children of the world who do not have someone who loves them in that way. So much so that I squalled about it and prayed for those kids for a good half hour.  My heart aches for those children.

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11 comments:

  1. James was still waking up at least 2 times a night at 16 weeks too. I was still swaddling him at that point and it was because he was breaking out of the swaddle. If you are still swaddling I recommend just giving him his paci and re-swaddling. You could also try giving him a bottle for those feedings and slowing decrease the amount you give him. I feel your pain, and know that you will feel so good once he does start sleeping through the night! It will happen eventually and you will miss those middle of the night snuggles!

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  2. Both of my kids were inconsistent sleepers for a LONG time. I remember those zombie days - except I wasn't an Advo-mommy and had to work too. :( You have NOTHING to feel guilty about. Breast milk processes in the tummy much faster than formula milk and breastfed babies sometimes take much longer to be sleeping through the night. I imagine he's also curious and getting distracted when he's eating. It WILL get better, and when it does... you'll have something else to worry about. And so goes the parenting road... :) You are doing a FANTASTIC job and you are an AWESOME mommy. It's hard to balance and I always felt like everyone else had it so much more together than me, but in the end that boy loves you more than anything in the world - and no one else matters really!
    Beau broke his first tooth at 17 weeks, so it is definitely possible that you could have a tooth coming in soon - although Avarie drooled forever.

    Bottom line... you are an amazing, compassionate wonderful woman and you are doing a great job!

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  3. My daughter is a week younger than your son. She is also not sleeping throughout the night. She is my second child. My son slept through the night at 6 weeks. Every child is different. I see this with my two that are being raised the same. Mommies get so competitive with each other, even when we try not to. Just relax. The days are long but the years are short. The first six months is the hardest physically for parents due to the lack of sleep.

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  4. I'm so glad I came across this post today! I hope I can provide some encouragement. My daughter, who I nursed for 18 months, did not sleep through the entire night (regularly) until sometime around 15 months or so. Which sounds discouraging, but just give me a minute :). And I would go nuts, thinking, "This is the night" too, especially if she had a good night the night before. But, then she'd be up 1 or 2 times. Then, we'd have a stretch where she'd at least only wake up once for me, but then that'd change to 2 times for a week or so. With all that said, THIS IS NORMAL!!!!!! I of course did a TON of research, read Babywise, and other such books and realized after looking at research geared more towards "natural living" and breastfeeding in particular that children don't necessarily sleep through the night right away or even for 12+ months at that. Some good info can be found on Dr. Sears website and also on KellyMom.com and the Le Leche League. This idea that babies need to sleep through the night is mostly a sales gimmick. I also noticed that the handouts my Pediatrician would give us at our well visits would have a section on sleeping and it said each time that babies should/could still wake up 1-2x a night to nurse. It said that up until around our 12-15 month well visit. And this is not some crazy attachment parenting doctor. He's just a regular old pediatrician who happens to be pro-breastfeeding. Anyways, it was tiring me out more to try and "force" her to sleep through the night then to just respond and nurse then go back to sleep. She is now 22 months old and I can safely say she is NOT attached or dysfunctional in any way because of this!! And I know several other nursing moms whose children didn't sleep more than 8 hours straight until about 12 months. Again, this might sound scary if you are sleep deprived. However, you get used to it! It does go away. Think about that first year, they are going through SOOO much change and development, what sense does it make that ALL babies would consistently sleep 12 hours a night straight? It doesn't. So, needless to say, you are not alone. This is normal. And it will pass and get easier. Keep enjoying every second because I have to hold back tears thinking about how my "baby" is almost 2 years old!!! Thank you for sharing your experiences and love for God. Let me know if you have any questions :-)

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  5. LOVE that first picture of him showing off his milk belly! I literally laughed out loud to that!

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  6. I appreciate this post so much because Lillian took awhile to sleep through the night too. Still at 23weeks she will wake up but can now soothe herself. For us the problem was night full enough feedings because my milk supply had decreased. I made sure to drink more water, eat more calories, etc... And eventually we started her on rice cereal once a day at 5 months and it really helped. She was like jase and always woke up at the same times during the night (1:30 and 5ish) I felt the same way when people asked if she was sleeping thru the night and I couldn't say yes. She does great now and the fact that she is such a great baby during the day and always so happy with anyone makes me not mind at all that she took awhile longer than "typical" babies.

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  7. Our daughter didn't sleep through the night until we started solids at about 4 months. Then we went a long stretch of sleeping through the night and now still at 2 years old she wakes up every once in awhile. I was trying to look back on our blog to see when it was. There was a fluke night about 3 months old but not until she started solids that is when I remember her sleeping through more often.

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  8. This is sort of a random question, but what type/brand of bottles do you use? I am 36.5 weeks pregnant and am trying to prepare for he arrival. Love your blog!!! Thanks in advance

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  9. Just wanted to chime in - been there, done that, feel your stress!

    My first daughter slept through the night when we brought her home from the hospital. We seriously had to wake her to feed her and then she would go right back to sleep. She napped great (we did a similar schedule as you) and I really felt like I was a rockstar mom and that it was all ME that caused her to sleep so well!

    See where this is heading!?

    My second daughter was just like you are describing! We fought the 40 minute nap monster for months on end. She would wake most nights 3-4 times to nurse. She just never slept hard. She did not start sleeping 12 hour stretches until the week she started walking when she was 15 months old! So for her, it seemed to be tied with a physical milestone.

    Now she is a great sleeper and sleeps through sickness, teething, etc. I can honestly say I barely remember it. But when I go back and read my blog I can feel those feelings of desperation and pure exhaustion again.

    I have no advice. I read every book. I tried rice cereal, I tried cutting out foods, I tried giving formula, I tried strictly nursing. In the end, I had to give it up to God and accept that this was a time of sleepless nights that (hopefully) wouldn't last forever! Easy for me to say - but I agree with a previous poster that STTN is definitely a sales pitch and another reason to make us feel inadequate as mommys.

    He is a beautiful baby and you are a rockstar mom no matter when he sleeps!

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  10. Hang in there, and get rid of that mommy guilt (easier said than done, I know!!). My daughter was waking up twice a night until she was 2!!! My son started sleeping through the night at 11 months and I was soooo thrilled with that after the awful sleeper I had first!:))

    One of the things we always joke about at my moms group is, What does it feel like to have uninterrupted sleep??? Does your church have a moms groups to get connected in?

    From reading your posts you are a fantastic mom! Keep up the great work, momma!!

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  11. Sleeping through the night is defined by sleeping for 5 hour stretches. Breastfeed babies should not be sleeping for 8+ hours without nursing. If he isn't doing it on his own yet, don't stress. It will happen...eventually.

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