So, Daniel is now five and a half weeks old. It seems an age away that I was so stressed and upset about being overdue with him. Yet these five weeks have gone in a flash! He is growing so fast, and the time is going so quickly, it feels like I barely have time to enjoy his newborn-ness. And when does he stop being a newborn?
Milestones reached.. He smiles, he lifts his head clear of the floor, he has even cooed at me a few times.
He is now in 3-6 month clothes. Yes you read that right... My almost 6 week old baby is in clothes for a 12-26 week old baby. He is my first baby in cloth, but still, some are fairly slim and the 0-3 is stretched tight in the fatter nappies, and simply snug in the slimmer ones. The 3-6 month old ones are slightly baggy, but not overly so. The majority of his 3-6 month clothes are still in the loft, but he has 5 rompers which were gifted to him that his brothers never wore that he's now wearing in the meantime until the rest of them come down.
He's getting weighed tomorrow. He was weighed 2 weeks ago at my request, and weighed 11lb 9oz then. My milk supply is still plentiful, I let down heavily from both breasts when he begins a feed, I completely soak breast pads each day, even the lanisoh ones. I have not started pumping, I will see about it once I get some storage bags. Not that I'm planning on using the milk for Daniel particularly but it can't hurt to have some in the freezer.
Daniel has two doting big brothers. The novelty has worn off somewhat but he still gets plenty of kisses and cuddles during the day. Christopher has gone from giving him about 10+ hugs and kisses a day to about 2 or 3. Robert has become more affectionate towards him as time goes on. He enjoys the responsibility of rocking him in the bouncer, and will often sit and talk to him. If he's crying, I'll often see Robert come up to him, and say soothingly "don't wowwy, Daniel, mummy will give you milk in a minute!" Robert has quickly learned that if Daniel is crying, most often this can be solved by giving him milk. ;)
Daniel is of course breastfed on demand. This is never often more than 3 hours apart, and quite often more than twice within an hour. Most often I'd say between every 1.5 and 2 hours. But as I don't clock watch, it's really hard to say.
He is mostly co-sleeping with us. If I get uncomfortable I will put him in his cot, but mostly once he wakes for the first time after we have gone to bed, he will come into bed with us after a nappy change (into the most absorbent and leak proof nappy we have to hand to avoid having to change him during the night), and stay in bed with us during the night until we get up in the morning. Lately he has been good until about 5am when he gets restless. During the night he will easily feed and then sleep, but around 5am he will wake and feed, and then whinge on and off until about 6.30 when he'll drop back off to sleep, and leave us too awake to get back to sleep in time to appreciate it before the boys gro clock turns yellow.
Unlike Christopher (and somewhat like Robert), Daniel is quite a sicky baby. He will spit up some of his feed in almost every case, sometimes straight away, sometimes after a while. Sometimes it's just a little dribble, sometimes it comes out in gushes. He often gets grumpy after a feed, until he has spit up. Although part of me is wondering if he has an intolerance because he also has some patches of rough red skin, mostly on his right cheek and ear, and behind the ear. Some on his neck, in the crease, and I noticed a small amount on the stork bite on the back of his neck. I might start giving him regular baths to try and clean off those areas more thoroughly, in case it is perhaps the sick irritating the skin? He has had about 4 baths so far. I will also mention it at my 6 week postnatal checkup on Monday. But if regular bathing doesn't help, I may see about eliminating dairy from my diet to see if that helps. At least I don't have the worry that he's not gaining weight, I can see he is gaining weight, and meeting milestones, but if I can help ease discomfort I will!
Anyway, Jonathan is getting nearer to Daniels birthday on the photos, sorting and uploading them, so hopefully I will have some photos to update with soon!
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Monday 3 June 2013
17 days old!
Well, Daniel Tobias is now two and a half weeks old! How time flies once they are skin side! Feeding is going great, he is a natural just like Christopher, and a very hungry boy! He feeds on average every 2 hours, more often sometimes.
I was discharged from the midwife on day 11. Daniel was back to birth weight at 5 days old, then up 9oz at 11 days old! So I reckon now he's up to almost 11lb by now. Very chunky boy! And now out of newborn clothes already!
Daniel has already attended his first funeral. When he was just two days old we had the sad news that a friend of Jonathan's gran, who sort of became a surrogate gran for us, and saw her most weeks at my in-laws, passed away. We were planning to go over later that day, so he missed out seeing her by just a day. :( Robert was quite fond of her, but is still too young to really understand death. He has however since been asking if certain people are going to die (like me, his daddy, Christopher, and Daniel).
Today was the first day that I've not had anyone around to help out with the boys. It's been a peaceful day so far, and very relaxed. I'm hoping it continues! And that the boys enjoy outdoor activities while I sort out more washing. It definitely helps that my first day solo has been sunny, and productive, it always makes me much more cheerful!
Something that needs mentioning here before I sign off, is how the older boys have taken to their new baby brother. Christopher absolutely adores his baby brother. He comes up regularly, saying "me beh-bee gish uck" (me baby kiss hug) and gives him a gentle hug followed by a kiss on the head. By regularly I mean at least every half an hour when he's around. He also starts to sing twinkle twinkle little star whenever he cries, and occasionally waves at him and says "ey-oh beh-bee bwuvvah!" When he can't reach him for a kiss and a hug.
Robert on the other hand doesn't seem to think much of him particularly. The early days were filled with more hugs than later days, so I think Daniel was somewhat a novelty which has since worn off. He still has hugs on occasion, but they seem to be mainly when Christopher has asked, as a way of not feeling left out. I think it is somewhat of a personality thing rather than an age thing, as I remember him being similar when Christopher was a baby. He is however, playing with his dolls a lot more, and even for the first time ever, nursed his doll! (Granted for about a second, and as a game, but still! This coming from the boy who would look at me reproachfully when I suggest he nurse the doll himself, saying "mummy, I don't have milk in my boobies" before insisting that I be the one to nurse the doll. He would cry as the baby, then say "oh no, the baby wants milk AGAIN!" Lift the doll out of the bouncer, nurse it for a second, put it back, then run off, only for the doll to "cry" again, and he runs back saying "the baby wants milk again? I just want to go and play!" Whenever Daniel cries, Robert suggests he wants milk, which I guess in the early stages is actually somewhat accurate!
Something I am thankful for at the moment is Daniel's tolerance for just a warm pair of arms at the moment, unless he is hungry. He will settle down well when cuddled unless he is hungry, which also makes the sling a godsend. We also co-sleep at night, and he actually sleeps really well at night, often going 3-4 hours or more between feeds which is a long time for my boobs!
I'm still waiting on Jonathan to edit the photos we took of Daniel in the first week to post photos here, but I will say: he is the spitting image of Robert as a baby!
I was discharged from the midwife on day 11. Daniel was back to birth weight at 5 days old, then up 9oz at 11 days old! So I reckon now he's up to almost 11lb by now. Very chunky boy! And now out of newborn clothes already!
Daniel has already attended his first funeral. When he was just two days old we had the sad news that a friend of Jonathan's gran, who sort of became a surrogate gran for us, and saw her most weeks at my in-laws, passed away. We were planning to go over later that day, so he missed out seeing her by just a day. :( Robert was quite fond of her, but is still too young to really understand death. He has however since been asking if certain people are going to die (like me, his daddy, Christopher, and Daniel).
Today was the first day that I've not had anyone around to help out with the boys. It's been a peaceful day so far, and very relaxed. I'm hoping it continues! And that the boys enjoy outdoor activities while I sort out more washing. It definitely helps that my first day solo has been sunny, and productive, it always makes me much more cheerful!
Something that needs mentioning here before I sign off, is how the older boys have taken to their new baby brother. Christopher absolutely adores his baby brother. He comes up regularly, saying "me beh-bee gish uck" (me baby kiss hug) and gives him a gentle hug followed by a kiss on the head. By regularly I mean at least every half an hour when he's around. He also starts to sing twinkle twinkle little star whenever he cries, and occasionally waves at him and says "ey-oh beh-bee bwuvvah!" When he can't reach him for a kiss and a hug.
Robert on the other hand doesn't seem to think much of him particularly. The early days were filled with more hugs than later days, so I think Daniel was somewhat a novelty which has since worn off. He still has hugs on occasion, but they seem to be mainly when Christopher has asked, as a way of not feeling left out. I think it is somewhat of a personality thing rather than an age thing, as I remember him being similar when Christopher was a baby. He is however, playing with his dolls a lot more, and even for the first time ever, nursed his doll! (Granted for about a second, and as a game, but still! This coming from the boy who would look at me reproachfully when I suggest he nurse the doll himself, saying "mummy, I don't have milk in my boobies" before insisting that I be the one to nurse the doll. He would cry as the baby, then say "oh no, the baby wants milk AGAIN!" Lift the doll out of the bouncer, nurse it for a second, put it back, then run off, only for the doll to "cry" again, and he runs back saying "the baby wants milk again? I just want to go and play!" Whenever Daniel cries, Robert suggests he wants milk, which I guess in the early stages is actually somewhat accurate!
Something I am thankful for at the moment is Daniel's tolerance for just a warm pair of arms at the moment, unless he is hungry. He will settle down well when cuddled unless he is hungry, which also makes the sling a godsend. We also co-sleep at night, and he actually sleeps really well at night, often going 3-4 hours or more between feeds which is a long time for my boobs!
I'm still waiting on Jonathan to edit the photos we took of Daniel in the first week to post photos here, but I will say: he is the spitting image of Robert as a baby!
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