That’s it! We don’t have a newborn baby anymore! Three months went in a flash, I must say. Interestingly with Maia I felt like the “fourth the trimester” lasted much longer but that’s possibly because I was alone with the baby and also new to the long, sleepless nights, endless nursing and solitary pram walks. This time I haven’t been alone because I’ve got Maia and the nanny in the house and thanks to the corona lockdown, recently also my husband. In fairness, Maia was born earlier in the winter (December 2nd) and the dark and wet winter days always feel long. Noah was born January 20th and by the time I resurfaced from the newborn bubble it was already February and the days were getting longer and warmer. I’m looking at Noah thinking “where did my tiny newborn go?” and considering he’s doubled in size (or at least in weight), it’s a fair question!!
I love writing these baby updates because it makes me stop and appreciate the moment, the squishy baby rolls and cuddles. Life with babies (and toddlers) is a constant whirlwind and I’m always busy tackling whatever challenge is making life harder at the time: colds, cluster feeding, immunisations, teething, stomach problems, etc. It’s good to stop to enjoy and reflect on our journey so far. After all, I’ll never get these months/years back!
I do feel a bit emotional about not having a newborn anymore but to be honest I prefer this stage to the early newborn days. Noah isn’t as small and fragile anymore – he’s grown to be so chubby and cute he could be from a nappy advert! I feel like I know him better now too and we’ve bonded properly. I’ve of course loved him from before he was born but it’s exciting to see a bit of his personality come out now. I feel like I’ve gradually grown into the role of mother of two and I absolutely love it! Not every aspect of it, in all honesty, but 99%. It’s also nice to be a family of four and I feel like by now we have properly settled into it. I still sometimes feel like I’m not old enough to be married with two kids but then I remember I’m almost 35!! 😄
I had looked forward to starting to take Noah to baby activities now that he is three months old (any earlier is a waste of money in my opinion, unless you’re desperate to get out of the house), like baby sensory and baby swimming lessons, but because of the lockdown everything is cancelled. It’s a shame but to be honest he won’t know any different and at this young age socialising with other babies isn’t that important to him and apart from swimming we can do different activities at home to support his development.
I keep talking about my big baby and how he’s growing so fast, but actually compared to average baby size in the UK, Noah isn’t particularly big, a bit under median by weight. I’m just so used to having a tiny baby (Maia) and being able to use the same clothes for months (or even years!) where as Noah is growing out of his in weeks! Noah was weighed this week and is now 6.08kg which is nearly the same as Maia at 6-months old! He was born on the 25th centile but has now moved up to 35th. In comparison, Maia has always been between 2nd and 9th. Both of them were – and Noah still is- exclusively breastfed with no problems, but babies are individuals and these two seem to be built differently (so far anyway). I wonder if it’s a girl vs. boy-thing…
Noah has outgrown his clothes labelled “up to 1-month” and the 0-3 month clothes are also getting tight, or mainly short because he’s quite long. Annoyingly it’s been very difficult to buy baby clothes during this lockdown as so many online shops are out of stock! I might just resort to cutting off the sock bits of his sleepsuits. Also when we moved to nappy size 3 a few weeks ago I realised we could have jumped straight to size 4 as these ones aren’t quite long enough at the back and the infamous nappy explosions have now started…
Noah had his 3-month immunisations on Tuesday. Poor little guy got very upset but luckily there seems to have been limited side effects apart from green poo. The meningitis booster jab isn’t until 4-months and that’s the one often causing fever. Not looking forward to it… The nurse continues to see babies by appointment only at a GP surgery closed to other patients because of coronavirus.
The new month brought some new challenges. They always say nothings stays the same for long with babies and this is so true. It doesn’t really get harder or easier, just different. Noah’s struggles with wind and vomiting have been replaced by teething. Yep, I also thought it’d be too early for teething but the signs are clear – dribbling, chewing on everything he can get his hands on and crying, lots of crying. Teething can bother babies for months before the first teeth actually pierce the gums but because Maia didn’t get her first teeth until she was seven months old, I didn’t immediately think of teething when Noah started getting fussier. After four consecutive nights of getting up every 30-60 minutes to soothe him, I finally had the sense to try his gums with my finger – they felt bumpy and sharp to touch especially front top. I feel sorry for poor Noah for having to suffer from teething already now but I was relieved to find the cause for our sleep problems. Now I’m doing what I can to offer him relief: teething gel and powder, teething toys, and a knotted-up muslin square which he likes to chew on. When it’s gotten really bad I’ve given Calpol as per the nurse’s advice.
Teething is not fun but I must say I’m so relieved the vomiting stopped after two months. Noah still needs burping but that’s just a matter of lifting him upright and giving a gentle pat on the back. Gassy baby Noah was unsettled and unhappy and I hated being vomited on several times a day. It was grim. And all the laundry too!
Noah has gotten physically stronger and better at grabbing objects. He’s practising putting things into his mouth – a skill I hope he’ll master soon so that he can get relief independently from the teething toys. Noah is even more alert and interested in what’s going on around him now. He (finally) likes his rocker chair and is happy to sit in it on his own for a bit, looking at and patting the toys dangling above him. Until now he’s only really liked the Baby Björn bouncer which I still use a lot – in the bathroom while I was having a shower this morning for example, and later in the garden. But he won’t stay anywhere for very long so it’s good to have a few options to rotate him in while I need to get stuff done or need a break from carrying him around (did I mention he’s getting heavy?!).
Noah has also learned to turn his head away when Maia’s kisses and cuddles get too much for him (bless him). He’s not too keen on Maia’s “I’m going to get you!”-game which is fair enough since he can’t run away! It’s interesting how Maia has taken zero offence from Noah starting to cry almost every time she shows him affection (in her rather rough ways) and continues to be very excited about him. It’s so heartwarming! They had a bath together for the first time the other night and she was so adorable gently washing his hair. I bought an Angelcare bath support for Noah so that I can safely bathe them both at the same time. Doing bath and bedtime routine consecutively rather than simultaneously takes too long and one of them would be going to bed too early or too late. Mastering joint bedtime will take some practice though…
Speaking of bedtime routine, the downside of Noah being more aware of what’s happening is that the newborn days when he’d sleep anywhere are over. He gets easily overstimulated and struggles to settle down unless he’s in the appropriate environment (calm, dimly lit room), which isn’t unreasonable. Last month I remember saying I don’t want to be too strict with his routine yet because once it’s established we’ll be slaves to it. Well the time for the routine has come.
I’ve followed my sleep bible “Precious Little Sleep” religiously since it basically saved my life and marriage when Maia was 9-months old and did not sleep (read: Sleep training). For babies 0-6 months old the book suggests teaching falling asleep on their own using the Sleep With Assistance Plan (SWAP) which uses bedtime routine and certain “power tools” to create sleep associations (sleeping in his own cot, in a dark room, with white noise, swaddle, etc). Maia was too old and our problems too severe for the gradual methods to work and so I used the cry-it-out method which did the trick in three days. With Noah I hope to teach independent sleep earlier to avoid the catastrophic situation we got ourselves into last time.
I haven’t drastically changed anything recently but I am even more diligent following the sleep schedule and using all of the tools (except his swaddle bag because he’s grown out of it and the Moro reflex seems to have subsided). I’ve mentioned before that he gets tired after being awake for two hours and this has not changed. Falling asleep during the day is harder for him now (too many interesting things going on!) and so I need to make sure that he has the change to rest in the appropriate set up. Trust me, if he doesn’t sleep after two hours and gets overtired, the situation will snowball from there and in the worst case scenario, keep spiralling down to the point where everyone is severely sleep-deprived… Our tried and tested small baby sleep schedule is as follows: naps 9am-10am, 12pm-2pm, 4pm-5pm, and bedtime at 7pm. I don’t care if falls asleep at 9am or 9.30am as long as he doesn’t get overtired and we stick to the “awake maximum two hours”-rule. And yes, I am obsessing about sleep and am willing to give up anything and everything which doesn’t nicely fall in between naps. Although thanks to coronavirus we have nowhere to go anyway, which in some ways is a relief. In my two years as a mum I’ve learned that if you’re not obsessed about your baby’s sleep, your baby (and you) actually sleeps – lucky you! If you’re chronically sleep deprived, you’ll know you’ll do anything to establish a working sleep routine. If you’re sleep deprived chances are your baby is too. No one wants that. But more on this later on!
My big boy has outgrown his Moses basket and so I bought him the same cotbed (Silvercross Notting Hill) which Maia has and which I love. We assembled it on Friday in our bedroom. Noah’s future room is currently our guest room and where my husband sleeps during the work-week. I want to continue to co-room with Noah for a couple more months. He still feeds every couple of hours and it would be inconvenient for me to have to go over to his room several times a night. I also like having him close to me to be honest. Just not in my bed. 😄
I wonder if we’ll still be in lockdown when he turns 4-months old?
xoxoxo,
Sini