Roly-poly

The nursing strike appears to be over, though the negotiated agreement has no specific future timeframe – it seems that Maren could be back on strike any time.  She is still relatively reluctant to nurse on the right side, though she does it with regularity, and as long as I am careful to take immediate action when she shows displeasure while nursing, things are generally okay.

However, she has been very clear that she will not nurse unless she is good and ready. And this is problematic, because she is not nursing during the day as much as she ought to be. She is nursing lots at night, which means that I am waking up lots at night. I have heard people say that in order to help a baby sleep better at night, just fit in more feedings during the day, but currently with Maren this is not possible. If she is not ready to eat, not only was she not eat, but she will become quite upset if feeding is offered.

Yesterday she really did not eat enough during the day, and she woke me up six times during the hours that I was trying to sleep. I think we are both quite tired today as a result, and this morning I napped while she napped. I am still worrying about her weight, as it really just doesn't seem like she's eating enough. We will check her weight again on Monday or Wednesday this week, and hopefully I will find that I am worrying for nothing.

At the same time, she is experiencing a period of rapid development. Last week we were thinking that she might start rolling over soon, and today she did it! Twice in fact – she rolled from her tummy to her back, once to the left, and once to the right. And then almost immediately, she started rolling from her back onto her side, so I think the back to front roll will be coming soon. Jeff and I both happened to be watching at the exact moment when she rolled over for the first time, and we both started clapping and cheering, which seemed to startle her and scare her a bit. We were just too excited :-)

A couple of pictures from this week:

Our little rock star

Shortly after rolling for the second time