First 6 Weeks Survival Guide.

The other day my friend Pam asked me, now that I’m a mother, what gift I would give at a baby shower. We have a couple of friends that are preggers, so the question has been weighing on my mind, and I decided to compile a list of the items I’ve found essential for the first 6 weeks. 

1) Halo Swaddle Sleep Sacks

 

This is the answer I gave Pam for what gift I would give. Forest always sleeps swaddled, otherwise, his uncontrollable flailing arms would invariably wake him up. Also, as a hyper-alert newborn, keeping him swaddled helps to wind him down and keep him calm in preparation for naptime or nighttime sleep. We’ve tried just swaddling him with swaddle cloths, but our technique was awful, probably because he’s such a squirmy lad, and he would break his arms out in no time. 

I can admit it. I am the worst swaddler ever.

The Halo sleep sacks take the guesswork out of swaddling and make keeping him snug and secure much easier. Plus, the fleece ones keep him warm and toasty in our drafty granite house. 

2) Infacol, Gripe Water, and Infant Tylenol. 

We give Forest Infacol Gas Drops before every meal. Luckily, my friend Talia and my Aunt Kim (both in the medical field) gave me a supply of these at my gender reveal party so I had them ready to go when tummy issues started to be a problem for our little guy. Things have gone much smoother since we started giving him these drops to combat those nasty gas bubbles. My friend Kristin also dropped off a bottle of gripe water shortly after Forest was born. These give gas that extra kick in the pants when Infacol doesn’t cut it. They are also great for zapping hiccups. As for Tylenol, this is just good to have on hand. We’ve had to use it in dire situations once or twice late at night, and it’s not something you want to have to run to the store for in those last-resort moments. 

3) Fisher Price Rock N’ Play Sleeper

 

When I was shopping  for baby boy at Target on a home visit, a lady with a young boy came up to me and told me I HAD TO buy this cradle. 

She said her son slept in it for the first few weeks and because it was set on a slight incline, it was great for easing his colic. I’m so glad I took her advice and snagged one. I’m a bit ashamed to say that my 6 week old is still not sleeping in his crib. We got the rock n’ play for him to sleep in for the first week and then to use for the occasional nap. However, we discovered that he slept much more soundly in his rocker than his crib, and was even able to resettle himself and fall back asleep in his cradle, whereas if he woke up at 1:30 AM in his crib, he would need for me to come in and console him before he would go back to sleep. 

So, for now, he’s still sleeping in his cradle. Sleep trumps all, y’all. Maybe it’s creating bad habits, but Forest is a bad sleeper as it is. For now, it’s survival mode and we will cross whatever sleep training bridges as they come. This has also been a great buy (...gift, actually. Thanks Mom!) because it’s very portable so I can move it into different rooms as a I need to throughout the day. 

4) Fisher Price Musical Seahorse

 

My friend Jill recommended this to us, and I’m so glad she did. This was a life saver in settling Forest down during our hospital stay.

When he has trouble napping, I can usually turn this on for 10 minutes and he will either drift off or else be easier to settle afterward. He has already started reaching for it, and once he’s a bit older, he’ll be able to turn it on himself which will be a great self-soothing tool. 

5) Breast Pump 

 

I use the Medela In Style electric pump and my friend Eileen let me borrow her Medela Harmony hand pump for those late night engorgement occasions.

 

Either way, pumping has been invaluable. Jonathan gives Forest his bedtime bottle of expressed milk which gives me time to drink a cuppa tea and relax without being on breastfeeding duty. It also allows me to occasionally pop out for a spell, whether that be to play mahjong or go to book club. 

I’m still not totally back in the social swing of things, but it’s nice to come up for air every once in a while, and the breast pump gives me the freedom to do this. A supportive husband helps as well… 

6) Fisher Price Little Lamb InfantCradle and Swing

 

This was another borrow from my friend Eileen, and thank heavens for it! When the bugger just won’t nap, this usually keeps him settled for 45 minutes or so while I eat breakfast, take a shower, do housework, write blog posts, etc. About 50% of the time he’ll even drift off to sleep which is an added bonus. I’ll be sad when he outgrows this life saver! 

We have a bouncy/vibrating seat in the same line. He doesn’t usually sleep in it, but it will keep him entertained for a spell and keep the crying at bay. 

7)  White noise. We could not survive without white noise. It helps to lull him to sleep and also helps to block out any noise that we or the dogs might make throughout the house during naptimes. We have several different apparatuses to keep a constant hum around Forest during sleepy time. Mainly we use an app called ‘Baby Sleep’ which features sound effects such as a hair dryer, vacuum, and dryer. We plug in an old ipod into some speakers and keep it in his room. We also have a sound machine. And these portable Cloud B sleep animals are great for the stroller and car seat. 

 

Right now we have the Sleep Sheep and Gentle Giraffe. This Nighty Night Owl  even has a sensor in it that automatically turns it on in the night if the baby wakes up. Santa might be bringing it for Forest’s stocking this year... 

8) Boudreaux’s Butt Paste

 

This diaper rash ointment clears any irritation right up, and usually keeps severe rashes at bay. It’s a staple at our changing station. Plus, it always makes me smile and think of Louisiana.

9) Tommee Tippee Anti-Colic bottles

 

When we first started giving Forest a bottle, we just gave him the standard Medela one that came with the pump. I had no idea that there was such variety in bottles and nipples as far as flow and air control. Forest had a few colic episodes directly after taking a bottle which had us really discouraged. I reached out to the AWA Mom and Tots group here in Aberdeen and they suggested a few bottles that are specifically designed to reduce colic and nipples designed with newborns in mind. We bought one of each, but stopped experimenting after using the Tommee Tippee because it worked so well that we didn't want to take a risk in switching it up. Don't fix it if it's not broken and what not.  

10) My Brest Friend Breast Feeding Pillow

 

Another loaner from Eileen, this has made breast feeding so much more comfortable. And it's not exclusively for breast feeding. Jonathan uses it every time he bottle feeds as well. 

It's just nice to have a little shelf to keep Forest steady while we feed him. 

 

11) Lansinoh Lanolin Nipple Cream

 

Speaking of breast-feeding, I couldn't have made it this long without Lansinoh Lanolin nipple cream. In fact, my first parenting panic attack came when I discovered I had left my tube in the NICU after Forest had been discharged to the recovery ward and therefore had to feed him without applying this soothing ointment first. I asked the midwives to bring me some and instead they brought me hemorrhoid cream???? They are lucky I read the bottle before simply applying it. That could have been very bad for baby boy. I still can't believe they don't keep nipple cream on hand. Their advice was to hand express milk and rub it on myself. Um, ain't nobody got time for that. 

Anyways, I'm sure you've heard, breastfeeding can be very painful in the initial weeks as your nipples get used to taking a pounding. Our little guy has a tongue tie which makes things even more complicated. 7 weeks in and I'm still cringing every time he latches on. I cannot even imagine having to feed him without this stuff. If you are an expectant momma planning to breast feed, I suggest you stock your nursing station with a few tubes of this. 

12) AA Batteries. Just because a lot of the aforementioned items require them, so it's good to have a good stock pile, lest your go-to musical seahorse lose it's juice just when you need it the most. 

There are a ton of other things that we use on an occasional basis, but these are our go-to daily items that have helped us keep our heads above water with this whole parenting a newborn business. I’ll try to do a similar blog post every 6 weeks or so to try to keep track of what items are essential for each stage. Of course, every baby is super different, so what (sorta) works with Forest, may be a total waste on someone else’s kid. But still, I appreciated it when other momma’s gave me tips about their bag of tricks, so I’m paying it forward by passing mine along. Are there any things you would add to the list? Anything I should stock my house with for the next few weeks/months?

First Run Post Pregnancy

On Sunday, I decided to attempt running for the first time in 5 months. Because I have played soccer since I could toddle, I have never been classically ‘out-of-shape’. Endurance is a natural strength of mine which is part of why I enjoy running so much. It’s a way to exercise that never really required much effort or struggle. Weight training on the other hand is something I dreadfully loathe. 

So I guess I had unrealistic expectations when I strapped on my new Brooks trail-running shoes and headed to Hazlehead Park on Sunday. 

Running is hard when you’ve got no abdominal muscles to speak of. I’d be pumping my short little legs just as hard as I could and then be mortified when I checked my pace and saw that I was running 12 minute miles. 

On the other hand, I’ve gotten really good at power walking, because when I’d take a break from running and walk a stretch, I was averaging 15 minute miles. It’s a lot easier to walk when you aren’t pushing a ginormous stroller. Who knew having the BOB was gonna be such a good form of resistance training. 

So overall, I’m glad I took the plunge and got back out there. I clocked 3.2 miles in a time that is too embarrassing to reveal. Let's just say, it only took me 15 additional minutes to walk the same distance while 9 months pregnant. 

It was tiring and tough and my muscles haven’t been this sore in years, but it’s just the initial step back towards a healthy lifestyle. It’s gonna be a long road back to where I used to be, but I’ll get there eventually. Thank you so much to my hubby for baby-sitting Forest so that I could take Bailey-girl for a trail run. If nothing else, it was great to get some alone time in the fresh air! 

During the week, Forest and I are trying to stroll 3 miles a day when the weather is decent. 90% of the time, he really enjoys a long walk. The other 10% of the time, he doesn’t enjoy much of anything, so I might as well strap him in, put on my headphones and get out of the house. It keeps me sane. It really does. Thanks to my in-laws who gifted us our amazing stroller. 

It’s been great hitting the trails with my little man and introducing him to the many reasons I love this country! 

6 weeks old!

Forest is 6 weeks old today. Most of my friends say that 6 weeks is the first major hump where things start to improve, followed by 3 months. I would say that all in all, things have gotten much easier. That’s partly because Forest is becoming more calm and easier to settle as he gets older, and also because we’re adjusting and becoming more patient and in-tune to his needs. 

That being said, this child is totally inconsistent. I try to keep a loose routine/structure to our day. We’re following the Baby Wise/Baby Whisperer routine of Eat-Play-Sleep on about a 3 hour cycle throughout the day. Some days, he does beautifully. He naps hard after every single feeding and is content when he’s awake. This week, he even slept 16 hours in a 24 hour period, like all the books say he should. 

But for every mountain with Forest, there is a valley. This past Thursday was the day from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. He didn’t nap AT ALL and was inconsolable for 12 hours. 12 hours, y’all! Poor baby was losing his voice from screaming so loudly for so long, and his poor parents were losing their minds. I gave up on the whole ‘getting him to nap’ thing and would have been fine just getting him to calm down. He was obviously having some tummy issues and we were pumping him full of every colic remedy in the book, but nothing was working. We tried the swing. He screamed. We tried the bouncy seat. He screamed. We tried the stroller (on a day when it was blizzarding outside, by the way. That’s how desperate I was.). He screamed. I rocked him, cuddled him, carried him around. He screamed, screamed, and screamed some more.   

I have never felt so helpless and powerless in my life.  All of my Baby Wise and Baby Whisperer nonsense flew out the window. Accuse me of ‘accidental parenting’ all you want, but I strapped that baby to me in his Ergo carrier, locked myself in the laundry room, turned the light off, turned the dryer on and swayed back and forth for an hour just to get some peace and quiet. 

That helped keep him calm until his next feeding, at which point we topped him off with some Chamomile Tea. Have y’all heard of this? If you give colicky babies a half ounce of Chamomile Tea, it relaxes their stomach, allowing them to dispel trapped gas (just make sure it doesn’t have honey in it!). It worked and he started toot-tooting away. 

He still fussed for the next 2 hours, but once I fed him his bedtime feed, he zonked out and slept for 7 hours and 45 minutes!!! All that screaming tuckered him out. And thank goodness, because this momma needed some rest.  

But if Thursday was his worst day yet, this Monday was his best. He went down so easy after each feeding that I thought somebody came in and switched him with an angel during the night. It was such a treat not to have to fight him to take a nap and to have confidence that every time I put him to bed, he would stay asleep until I woke him up for his next feeding. 

I was worried that his daytime sleep would lessen his nighttime sleep, but he actually slept 5 hours and 45 minutes that night. In fact, for the past 3 nights he has slept 5+ hours, which gives me hope that longer stretches are on the horizon. 

I feel like he is growing so fast! I know to other people, he still looks like small baby, but to me he is HUGE, not to mention adorably chunky. My arms are starting to ache when I hold him for too long and he’s totally outgrown his newborn clothes. I packed them up and handed them down to a friend of mine who’s expecting a baby boy this Spring. 

Most people get all sentimental and sad about packing away the newborn clothes, but I was excited. First off, it means Forest is growing really well. Second off, the older he gets, the closer we are to getting out of this newborn phase alive. Colic is pure evil, y’all and I live in constant fear that another attack will pop up out of nowhere. It is just the most miserable thing for all involved. Do any of you guys have any go-to tricks that worked when your babies were inconsolable? 

After his colic episode last Thursday, we made an appointment with the GP on Friday (here you don’t have a pediatrician, but just a GP who will refer you to a pediatrician if need be). She referred us to a private pediatrician to see if Forest may have a milk allergy (I’ve cut dairy from my diet and it seems to be helping), and also to address his tongue-tie. 

I was told he had a tongue tie in the hospital, but I wasn’t sure what that meant, and since he was latching like a champ, they said it wasn’t an issue. When my sister’s baby was born 2 weeks ago, he had the same issue and she said nursing him was so much more painful than nursing her other two boys. Within a few days of being born, baby Andrew had his tongue tie snipped in a routine procedure and nursing has been going smoothly ever since. 

Well, Forest is my first, so I just thought nursing was supposed to hurt this bad and I didn’t seek out any help for it. Now that I know that his tongue might be the problem and there is a relatively easy fix for it, I’m looking into getting that done. This past week has been the hardest as far as nursing goes. I won’t go into details, but if you’re interested, google ‘milk blister’. And yes, it’s as painful as it sounds. 

Baby boy is starting to smile more frequently, and he’s also learning to reach and grasp for things. He does tummy time like a champ and enjoys doing his baby push ups. 

He can hold his head up for quite a long time now, and if you hold up his hands, he loves to use his legs to stand up. He has started tracking his mobile with his eyes and refuses to eat if Jonathan and I are having a conversation because he is just too distracted trying to listen to our voices. 

Because he is so alert, I have to be very careful not to OVER stimulate him. It’s a fine balance and I’m getting slightly better at detecting his first signs of drowsiness and trying to get him to take a nap immediately. If I miss the window, I am in trouble, and getting him to take a nap becomes an act in futility. And unfortunately, if he misses one nap, his subsequent naps are likely to suffer because at that point he becomes over-tired and even more likely to fight sleep. 

He’s getting more adaptable though. I have been getting him out once a day to either stroll or run errands and it hasn’t gotten him off schedule or made him cranky, which is a blessing. For a while there, if I had to leave the house with him I knew it was going to result in a meltdown. It was making me stir crazy and a bit depressed. Now, it’s nice to get some fresh air. 

Yesterday, my friends Pam and Jill came for a stroll with us. It was so great because they got to visit with him beforehand and then I got to have some good girl chat time while he snoozed in the stroller. It was so good for my soul! 

I realize that this post has been a bit all over the place, but baby boy is actually napping and I’m trying to remember all of these little things. I’m already starting to forget so many things about his early days. The other day I was looking back at his weekly pictures and I had zero recollection of writing his ‘2 week old’ post. It’s nice to have the blog as a way to look back and reflect on how quickly he’s changing and growing up, and how I’m starting to adjust to motherhood. Please keep praying for us. I really feel like your prayers have made all the difference! 

Here are his 6 week pictures: 

Can you guess what he's doing in this picture? Yep, that's his poop face.

And just some bonus ones from his sixth week of life: 

Jon having a man-to-man talk with Forest about the importance of naps!

And an example of how alert he is and how his motor skills are coming along as he tries to bat at the birds on his bouncy seat: