The Week of Going Back to Basics

Lucien is 11 weeks old.  The main focus this week was testing out the techniques in Babywise.  It was not until I reached the Colic and Reflux chapter that I realized that it will be difficult to instill these new techniques in Lucien while he still has evening troubles.  So, I went back to the basics and responded to whatever he wanted to do to ease his pain.  Every mother has to assess what is good for their baby to propel them forward in life and going back has certainly helped him.  I read a lot about reflux, colic, and lactose overload to determine what we can do to relieve some of this nighttime pain from Lucien.  I discovered that when you breast feed that he has to get a good balance of the foremilk and the hindmilk.  So once "let down" occurs I stop him from feeding to drain a little bit so he doesn't fill up on the fore milk.  I also discovered that it is best to feed him smaller meals to digest them better and build up from there.  He cannot get overly hungry or overly full.  When we offer him a bottle we are using the Born Free or the Avent bottles which help to cut down on the air intake.  I also cut back on the intake of broccoli, garlic, and spicy foods.  After a couple of days we noticed a world of difference.  Maybe the colic had run it's course or maybe it was these new changes.  The evening crying bouts have diminished significantly.  Lucien is a much happier baby and he sleeps more in the day.  At night he is only waking once and he falls right back to sleep.  Once the colic passes we'll go back to the techniques to try and get him to sleep through the night - but he may do it on his own before that time comes.  His longest period between overnight meals has been 5 1/2 hours.    

Lucien has been growing in leaps and bounds and feels like he's grown taller - his 3 month PJs are getting tight.  He is cooing more and loves to sit down at the dinner table with us and join in on the discussions.  Mom is getting ready to go back to work in 2 weeks and is getting the guitar ready to go back for lessons.  Dad has the fishing fever and is still fishing for Pompano and feeding the family well.    

The Week of Historical Life Changing Events

Lucien experienced many life changing events during week 10.  Lucien got vaccinated this week, he is going to get some consistency in his daily activites, and  we have a new president in office - Barack Obama, who will hopefully propel this country out of the rut that it is in to give Lucien an easy life in 20 years.   

We brought him to his 2 month doctor's visit for his first round of shots.  Lucien weighed in at 12 lbs. and is now 24 inches tall.  He was signed off as a very healthy baby and then the shot was administered.  Mommy and Daddy discussed his shot schedule at length and decided to split up a couple of the shots.  They now give babies one shot called Pentacel that contains 5 different shots in one - DTap, HIB, and Polio.  We gave him that shot and the Rotavirus vaccination which is taken orally.  We decided to hold off on the PC or Pneumococcal shot until next month.  Our main concern is the aluminum preservative in shots given to a baby at such a young age.  Lucien emerged from the doctor a happy baby but in 3 hours time was very fussy and we were in for a long night.  

My book finally arrived - "On Becoming Babywise" by Ezzo and Bucknam.  It took me a couple of days to get into it but now I can't put it down.  Some of the techniques are controversial but I'm starting to be a believer of the techniques and I'm giving it a try.  With these techniques the baby should be sleeping through the night (or at least 8 - 9 hours straight) by week 8 - 12.  Some things that are going to start to change for Lucien:  

- new order at each feeding interval consisting of eat, wake time, sleep time.  Lucien's old order was eat, sleep, wake time.  Sometimes his wake time just became another feeding.

- Lucien is going to be put to bed to fall asleep on his own.  We have to stop rocking him to bed each time because now he wakes when I put him in the crib and then I pick him up again to rock him.  This is going to be a tough one to accomplish in the next week.

- Lucien will wake up the same time every morning for his first feeding.  I'm going to try and set it at 7am.

The Week of Potential Schedules

Lucien is now 2 months old.  He made through his 9th week as we tried out many different schedules all week long.  The week started with a dinner party in which we had some friends over.  I shared thoughts with another Mom about getting Lucien to sleep through the night - or at least not wake every 3 hours.  She recommended a book called "Babywise" by Ezzo which I immediately ordered on Amazon.  I also received another recommended schedule from Grandma Jean which suggests feeding your baby every 4 hours and to hold the baby off until the next feeding.  We tried it and it lasted almost one day.  When Lucien is hungry he lets you know!  He almost tore a hole through his pacifier that day.  So now we are back to Lucien's favorite schedule - eating every 2-3 hours.  Maybe he's still in growth spurt.  We'll find out at the doctor next week. 

The Week of Constant Attachment

Lucien had my full attention all through week 8.  He started eating in the daytime every 2 hours.  Which means he was practically attached to me all day long, all week long.  He definitely packed on some weight and is almost ready to graduate out of the size 1 pampers.  Lucky for Mom, breast feeding helps to shed those pounds and boy do I feel slimmer.  I was finally able to go through my closet and fit back into my pre-pregnancy pants and jeans.  Lucien has been smiling a lot more and having conversations with anyone that will listen - especially his safari mobile.  This week we also started our nanny search.  One more month and momma goes back to work.  Any recommendations?  

The Week of a New Year and New Living

Happy New Year!  It is now 2009 and Lucien is 7 weeks old.  I think the growth spurt week continued through to 7 weeks as Lucien was still eating non-stop, having gas problems, and thus crying more frequently.  I read in an article that a bab's crying tends to peak at 4 to 8 weeks.  So one more week and the crying will hopefully become less and less frequent.  We celebrated the New Year with our Conway traditional train cake.  All our out of town visitors left this week which has caused us to fend for ourselves.  Lucien has been used to family members constantly holding him and passing him around since birth so now he will need to adjust to alone time in the crib.  Pau-Pau was a big help in the first 6 weeks of his life.  We love you Pau-Pau!

Lucien has been smiling more and can recognize Mom and Dad now.  He smiles very frequently and has even started to join in conversation with the occasional goo and gaa.  It's the first week we're on our own - no time for photos.