Blake - Week 4

We had our weekly doctor's visit on Monday to check and see how Blake's gaining weight. We continued operation shove food in Blake's mouth the previous week to make sure he continued gaining and had quite the shock at the doctor. We started weighing him on the digital scale to keep a more accurate record of his weight and this time he weighed in at 7lb 4oz which was down from 7lb 7oz the previous week. Chris and I were just beside ourselves with frustration and confusion at how it was possible to lose weight with the amount of food we'd been feeding Blake. Luckily, the doctor suggested to use the regular scale and he weighed in at 8lb 2oz which is MUCH closer to what we were expecting... whew... I'm glad I'm not taking blood pressure readings anymore.

With this news, the doctor said we have the ok to not count calories as much and can breastfeed more as long as we try and keep a similar feeding schedule. Sadly, it turns out that Blake's appetite has gotten used to the bottle feedings and when his poor little (big) tummy doesn't get 3oz in less than 10 minutes he falls asleep and when he wakes up (in about an hour) is inconsolable and just wants to eat, eat, eat. Even after we decide to give him a 3oz bottle of pumped breast milk, he acts like he's never going to eat again and wants more. Needless to say, we haven't fully made the switch to exclusive breastfeeding and, if I want to get any sleep, we probably won't. We've been supplementing with formula which is nice as the last feeding before bed since it keeps him full long enough to get a good 2.5 hour nap after feeding him then pumping before bed. Other than that, I typically get another 1 or 2 1.5-2 hour naps at night. Hopefully every day is a day closer to some sort of routine/schedule.

This week, Blake:

• finally parted with his umbilical cord stump... well most of it. There is still a small dot left but the doctor says its like a scab that will just fall off at some point.
• was able to start tummy time since his cord is now gone. He seems to be doing pretty well with it. Like with most babies, it is frustrating for him, but we can see an improvement in just a few days already.
• has been working on trying to look to both sides equally. We noticed that he was only looking in one direction and sleeping on one side of his head and the doctor agreed that he appeared to have signs of Torticollis which is basically like a newborn stiff neck that doesn't go away unless the neck muscles are strengthened. If you let it go too long, you have to go to PT. We're hoping our own brand of PT at home will be enough to take care of the problem. It isn't something that can be fixed overnight so we'll keep working on it and hopefully both sides of his neck will develop.
• seems to have 2 main awake periods during the day; one in the early morning and one right before bedtime. We take these opportunities to do tummy time, neck exercises, and vision exercises. Since newborns can't focus right out of the womb there are bold black and white pictures that they can look at to help their eyes focus, so we printed a few off the internet and will hold them 8-10 inches in front of his face. He seems quite interested for the first little while but then is ready for something else.
• still loves looking at lights. Normally picture time is done when he would rather look at the overhead lights more.
• likes being sung to. I started singing some Disney songs to him and it seems to sooth him... guess I'd better learn some more songs. I can't bear to sing the standard baby songs since they get stuck in my head!
• was finally able to try out the Moby wrap since he broke the 8lb barrier required by most of the baby wraps. He seems to like it so far. I just need to get more experienced with it so we can maybe even take a trip out to the store one of these days.

A few from St. Patty's Day (thanks to one of my coworkers for the onesie!):

Sleeping in the Rock 'n Play.

Sponge bath time.

First time in the Moby Wrap while visiting over at Kara and Kalia's house.

Finally a picture of Blake and Daddy!

Daddy calming Blake after tummy time.

Just lounging around.

One of our first tummy time sessions.

Blake chilling out on Mommy's lap.