Laughing and crying

We have had an up-and-down kind of week. There have been some very bad days of sleep (last Sunday night Maren woke me up nine times in ten hours), and some fairly good days of sleep. Maren has been fussier than usual, and a couple of days this week she has forcefully declared (by crying and rubbing her eyes) that it was bedtime, much earlier than we normally would put her to bed. Two days ago she wanted to go to bed around 6 PM. Tonight she has been crying lots, and I suspect that it is because her naps today have been extremely short. She is fine right now, and Jeff has her so that I can do a quick post!

As much as there has been more crying this week, there has also been quite a lot of silliness and fun. On Monday, after what was probably the worst night of sleep since she was born, she finally laughed for me for the first time. She had laughed for Jeff once before, but I was in the bath and missed it. But Jeff was able to capture some of the laughing:

Since then, she has laughed for me several times. It is very rewarding to hear that laughter.

Nursing has been a bit difficult. Sometimes she is fine, but often she is upset at being offered the breast, even when she is hungry. It is challenging to deal with this, as nursing is supposed to be the thing that offers comfort, and it seems like often it is just the opposite of comforting. I have tried lots of things, and so far have not found the source of the problem. More likely than not, it is not one single issue. It could be so many things, and one experienced breast-feeding support person suggested that it might just be her asserting her personality – she wants what she wants and she doesn't want what she doesn't want. I hope that we are able to come to a resolution, even if it is just to accept that sometimes it will upset her when I suggest that she may want to nurse. Today was actually a great day for this, with no crying and no struggles around nursing all day, and then around 5 PM things took a turn for the worse. Oh well. Maybe the best explanation is just that she is a baby :-)

Developing her language skills :)

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

Adventures in nursing!

Jeph here! Last night Bridget didn't get around to blogging because Maren was having a bit of a meltdown, and tonight I blog in her place because Maren is stuck to her like glue :)

She has so far been a very mellow baby, but last night she was inconsolable. When it comes to nursing, she has always preferred Bridget's left side a bit more than the right side - many possible reasons, but we're not really sure why. Last night she decided to SCREAM and cry when offered the right side. The left side was pretty close to empty, but she kept insisting to stay on that one. Eventually when that ran dry, she lost it entirely. We first thought it was gas, and tried getting her to toot, but to no avail. Sometimes after a claming break she would suck on the left side again for a bit, but if offered the right she would FLIP OUT. Eventually she was just flipping out constantly, because she was hungry and there was - to her - no food left. Eventually she got sleepy, and then once sleepy, she actually would eat from the right side. The books seem to be suggesting that she is on a "nursing strike", which is no fun for anyone. Basically, if she knows that she is eating on the right, she gets mad. But when in an altered state of consciousness, she will eat from that side.

Today Bridget had to be careful with her: only offer from the left, and pump on the right. She seemed to be very happy with that, and so far we are having a good night. Bridget is going to try offering the right side tomorrow, and see what happens. Hopefully the strike is over by then! Adventures in nursing :)

Oh, and we checked her weight again today, and she is back on track, although gaining a little more slowly than before. So that is a relief !

Update 1/5/16: Maren has spent about 1 minute nursing on the right side (while awake) on two occasions, which is progress! And a video for your viewing pleasure:

Three months of Maren

Maren is now three months old. Again, it is surprising how quickly time goes by and yet how it is hard to imagine life without her.

I am not sure whether I have measured her totally properly, but I think she has grown about three and a half or 4 inches since she was born. She is a tall kiddo! She hasn't been weighed on a proper scale since December 10, and her weight gain has been a pretty consistent source of worry for me. Ever since learning that she was not gaining weight appropriately at about two and a half weeks, I have been vigilant about tracking her weight. For a long time, she was gaining weight consistently – about 1 ounce per day. But when she was weighed on December 10, she had gained a little less than that since her last weighing on December 1. I have tried weighing her on our bathroom scale by weighing myself and then holding her and getting a second weight, and if this is accurate, her weight gain has slowed considerably. But I don't trust that this is accurate, so sometime in the next couple of days we will take her to the public health office (where there is a baby scale in the waiting room) and get a more accurate weight. Jeff tells me to pay attention to other things, like the fact that she seems happy, and is meeting her developmental milestones, and seems to be eating fine. I know that he is right, but at the same time can't help worrying!

Fortunately, she doesn't give me a whole lot else to worry about. She continues to be a happy, easy baby, and seems to be thriving. She smiles and "talks" all the time, and continues to be easily soothed. A couple of days ago she seemed to discover a new kind of crying, which was quite disconcerting – extremely loud and intense, and it seemed to me that she must be in intense pain to be crying like that. However, Jeff was able to calm her down by walking her up and down the hall for a few minutes, and she has used this cry a couple of times since with similar outcomes. So it seems that it is just a new kind of crying.

As is typical with a baby, sleep is inconsistent and sometimes difficult. The night before last she was up to feed to five times. But last night she slept for a four hour stretch, nursed for twenty or thirty minutes, and then slept for about five more hours. She usually wakes me up probably twice a night to nurse, but she never fully wakes up, and is asleep again by the time she's done nursing. There is no difficult time getting her back to sleep. So even if she wakes me up a couple of times in the night, as long as I can get back to sleep quickly (which I usually can), things are not at all bad.

At three months old, Maren is more interactive than she was when she was younger. She demands more attention, and wants to see more of her world. She used to be content facing me and staring at my face or even just the chair or the wall behind me, but now she wants to face out and watch everything that is going on. She seems to love watching Jeff when he is busy in the kitchen.

She is also getting very strong – she holds her head up really well, and can now do a mini "baby push-up," and kicks and swings her arms all the time. She has not quite discovered putting objects into her mouth yet, but spends a great deal of time with her hands in her mouth.

Jeff starts back at work after the new year. He will resume his normal teaching load, and will be expected to be active with all his other duties, but fortunately there is a lot of work he can do from home. It has been nice having this time together as a new family, and although I wish we had more time, I know that we are extremely lucky to be in the position we are in!

We are also lucky to have such a sweet baby :-)