With this being baby #2, I find myself constantly checking back on my blog to try to see what Isis was doing at this age and what strategies I was trying for her to eat and sleep well. I can't remember and I didn't keep consistent track as specifically as I would've liked. I realize this isn't really a benefit for everyone or something that everyone would want to read, but I need to post it for me because we plan on having a 3rd child and I want to be able to go back and look at what I was doing this time! So if these are interesting to you, then great, if not, ignore and move on because I'm posting them for me! I'm also using the guides that the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom blog uses because they just make sense to me! Her blog is fabulous and pretty much a daily read of mine in the first year!
Newborn Summary Label on Babywise Mom blog
Newborn Index on Babywise Mom blog
Gas: So far Lux hasn't shown any signs of gas issues. She had a couple of individual times in the first day or 2 at home from the hospital that we could tell she was having a little gas pain. She didn't have a BM for the first day or so at home. When we went to the doctor, he helped in that department, which was interesting. Other than that, we haven't had any issues yet!
Nursing: Lux is a fabulous nurser! Isis had a hard time in the hospital and wouldn't latch on. I ended up having to use the nipple shield, which wasn't my favorite. Lux started nursing within the first 10 minutes after birth and she latched on perfectly and nursed for about 45 minutes! She has nursed consistently and for a full feeding every time since then with no issues. One of my biggest focuses when it comes to nursing a baby is that I work for full feedings every time and I don't let them snack at the breast or just nurse for comfort.
One thing about nursing with Lux that is good in terms of nursing, but an issue in terms of my future scheduling, is that she falls asleep at the breast every single time she feeds. She has yet to not do this. She is a very sleepy newborn. The good thing is that unlike Isis, she will keep nursing even when she's asleep. Reflex, I guess. She will be eating and swallowing and everything and I can tell she is asleep while she's doing it. Isis wasn't like this. If Isis fell asleep while she was nursing, she would stop sucking. So it's great that Lux still takes a full feeding even if she falls asleep, but it's not great when I'm trying to do an Eat-Wake-Sleep pattern and she falls asleep every time she eats. Right now it's a struggle to get her to have any wake time at all after she eats.
Another positive thing about nursing with Lux is that she is gaining weight steadily! We had to go to the pediatrician the day after we came home from the hospital, which was a Monday. We went back 2 days later on Wednesday and she had gained 6 oz. The doctor said they like to see them gain and oz a day, so she's clearly doing well! Isis was like this as well. I think I just produce a lot of milk and working for the full feedings helps them get all of it. I pumped the other day because I got a little uncomfortable and I got 6 oz after feeding Lux fully from both sides! So that's good! Hoping that keeps up when I go back to work and I have to pump at school.
Last thing to note, my milk came in on Monday, our first full day home from the hospital. Since then I've been trying to feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours. At first I was offering both sides, but she has recently (at the beginning of week 2) started nursing one side at a time for about 15-20 minutes total.
Burping: I don't think I'm a good burper, but I've still been trying with Lux. I honestly think she has only burped once or twice since birth. She hasn't had any major reflux or gas issues, so I think she's okay, but I'm still trying to burp her when I can.
Waketime: Right now, Lux is a sleepy newborn, as I said before. She will have some wake time with each feeding. I mainly just change her diaper, change her clothes if it's morning or evening, feed her and every couple of days we do a bath. Other than that, her wake time is very minimal. For the most part, she is back to sleep within minutes of feeding, if not immediately after because she didn't wake up after feeding (see above where I explain that she falls asleep at the breast every single time).
She has had a couple of days where she got overstimulated. We've had lots of visitors and so it is always difficult when she is passed around and it wakes her up a lot. If she goes longer than 45 minutes being awake, it becomes difficult for her to go back to sleep. We've had some rough afternoons or evenings because of this, but overall it's rare.
Nighttime Sleep: At the hospital, she was basically asleep the entire time. We sent her to the nursery both nights and each time they brought her back, they said that she had been asleep the whole time. When we got home, it was more of a transition.
Night 1 - Sunday night - she ate at 8:30pm, 11:00pm, 1:00am, 2:00am, 5:00am and 7:30am. She slept a lot of the night in the bouncy seat next to my bed. She didn't do great with it and it was a rough night. She also seemed to hate the swaddle and when we let her out, the arm movements that newborns have kept waking her up.
Night 2 - Monday night - she ate at 7:00pm, 8:40pm, 10:40pm, 12:15am, 3:00am, 5:50am and 7:45am. She slept most of this night in our little co-sleeper thing that fits in the middle of our king size bed and has the sides on it so that we are still separated from her and it's like her own little bed in our bed. She did a little better with this, but it was still rough. Again, she wasn't loving the swaddle and woke a lot because of her arm movements.
Night 3 - Tuesday night - she ate at 8:15pm, 10:00pm, 11:00pm, 1:30am, 2:30am, 5:00am and 7:45am. She also slept in the co-sleeper thing this night, although I think later on this night, I just pulled her down next to me and let her sleep beside me. This is not something I'm really comfortable doing, but she slept better. I didn't, though.
Night 4 - Wednesday night - she ate at 7:40pm, 9:15pm, 10:30pm, 11:30pm, 2:20am and 6:30am. We've been having a rough start to our nights, but them past 10 or 11, she will go longer stretches and sleep really well. This night she was again sleeping down next to me. She slept better after 11, but again I didn't. It just makes me really scared to have a baby sleeping next to me in bed. I'm just not a co-sleeper by nature. Also, this night was the first night that I stopped waking her up to eat. When I went to the doctor and they said she had gained 6 oz in 2 days and that I could just let her do what she does at night, I have just been letting her wake me up when she's ready to eat.
Night 5 - Thursday night - she ate at 7:40pm, 9:15pm, 11:00pm, 2:40am, 5:50am and 7:40am. This night, we tried the SwaddleMe blanket and we put her in the pack & play in our bedroom. She cried for a little while because she couldn't get her arms free, but she ended up falling asleep and did great! When she woke up after 9pm, I unswaddled her, changed her diaper, re-swaddled her, nursed her and then put her straight down. She went back to sleep in the pack & play each time after that. We are trying to wake her up around 7:15/7:30am, because that's when Isis is getting up each morning.
Naps: For the whole first week, she basically took naps wherever. I might've been holding her, Lewis might've been holding her, she might've been in the bouncy seat or laying on the couch next to me. She slept better during the day than at night and I've had to wake her for every feeding.
Sibling: Isis has loved helping with Lux. She wants to help change every diaper. She will bring you the diaper and the wipes, then she will take the dirty diaper and throw it away in the trash can. She also frequently asks to hold her. She helped us with her bath the other day by putting lotion on her legs when we were done. She also likes to brush her hair after the bath. She is constantly telling me how pretty Lux is and how she is "so sweet, mommy" and "so special." The first week, we had no real outbursts from Isis or jealousy. The only issues were when she wanted to help more than she could at that moment, like that she wants to hold her when I have to feed her.
Schedule: During the day, we focus on a morning wake time around 7:15/7:30am, then I feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours and we have a bedtime around 7:30/7:45pm. I don't wake her at night, I just feed her when she wakes up. If she does happen to be awake for a full waketime, I try to get her down for a nap within 40-45 minutes of waking up.
Mom Stuff: My emotions have been much more manageable this first week than they were with Isis. I had about 4 or 5 crying episodes and 4 out of the 5 of them were because I was overwhelmed with being so happy! Most of them had to do with Isis doing something sweet with Lux and me just loving it! I've also made it a point to get out of the house at least once a day. Most of the first week, that included going to the doctor or going to Orange Leaf to get ice cream!
I haven't had nearly as much pain in my bottom as I had with Isis and I think that is both because labor and pushing was way shorter and also because I didn't have to have any stitches at all. The only problem with that is that I've felt so good that I pushed myself a little too hard. On Thursday, I decided to take the stroller and walk Lux to pick up Isis from the babysitter. That afternoon and evening, my bottom was hurting a lot worse and I started bleeding worse again. I had just pushed myself too hard too soon. I think that also led to my crying episode that night that wasn't related to something good, but rather being overwhelmed. Since then, I've been trying to just take it easy.
My friend Emily set us up with a takethemameal.com plan and she emailed lots of our friends to see if they wanted to sign up to bring us food for the first couple of weeks of being home with a newborn. A bunch of people have signed up and it has been the most incredible blessing to have people bring us food each day! We haven't had to worry about cooking or preparing anything and with an (almost) 3 year old and then a newborn, that's just so helpful!!
