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Newborn Summary: Week 11

This week was Christmas! It was so fun!! Nursing: Same as last week. Both sides at a time, exclusively breastfeeding. Waketime: Hour & 15 minutes to Hour & a half. Nighttime Sleep: Dates of 12/21-12/27. Due to all the Christmas stuff, we had some difficult nights, but it was worth it! Night 1 - Friday night - I fed her at 7:15 and put her to bed. She woke up at 11:15, 3:30 & 7:15. She had 2 feedings after we went to bed (11:15 & 3:30) and her longest stretch was 4.25 hours from 11:15 to 3:30. Night 2 - Saturday night - I fed her at 7:30 & put her to bed. She woke up at 12:00, 4:00 and 8:00. She had 2 feedings after we went to bed (12:00 & 4:00) and her longest stretch was 4.5 hours from 7:30 to 12:00. Night 3 - Sunday night - I fed her at 7:15 and put her to bed. She woke up at 12:30, 4:00 & 7:30. She had 2 feedings after we went to bed (12:30 & 4:00) and her longest stretch was 5.25 hours from 7:15 to 12:30. Night 4 ...

Newborn Summary: Week 10

I'm so behind on these. Thank you, Christmas festivities! LOL so I'm going to keep this one short. Nursing: Things are normal. Nursing both sides every time. She's feeding every 3 hours. I'm not going to stretch her past 3 hours until after she starts consistently sleeping 12 hours. I want to make sure she gets enough during the day. I also met with the pediatrician at Lux's 2 month appointment and she said not to do formula once a day unless I have to, so I stopped. I mean, we've done it a couple of times because we needed to when I had an appointment and had to leave or something, but other than that, I've just been exclusively breastfeeding. Waketime: She was at 1 hr and 15 minutes this week. Sometimes an hour & 30 minutes. Swaddling: She is successfully unswaddled. I have her in the blanket sleepers. She will either wear a long pants, long sleeved pajama outfit with a sleeveless blanket sleeper over it or she will wear a short sleev...

Newborn Summary: Week 9

Best thing about this week was that we had 2 nights where Lux slept through the night & didn't have a night feeding!!   Nursing: Nursing has been great. I'm still doing 1 formula bottle a day most days. She also started sleeping longer at night really consistently, so I've added a pumping session around 9:30 to get me through the night & build my frozen supply. She's doing both sides at every feeding except the first one of the day & any in the middle of the night. Waketime: She has been being a lot more interactive during waketime! You can play with her more, which is so fun! I love taking pictures of her, which is really obvious from my Facebook & Instagram. She's very clearly alert for longer, so waketimes have also gotten longer. Swaddling: I've been transitioning her out of the swaddle at all. She's still got both arms out, but she's swaddled around her torso. My friend Laurel gave me some more swaddle blankets that ...

Newborn Summary: Week 8

Nursing: This week I started doing 1 formula bottle a day most days. I pump in place of that bottle & save the breast milk. That way I'm building up a supply & Lux is getting used to both taking a bottle & taking formula. She's done great with both! We are using Tommee Tippee bottles. We used Born Free with Isis, but after seeing the Tommee Tippee & how many fewer parts they have, it's just way easier & I actually like them a lot more.  Actually nursing has been fine this week. She nurses from both sides most feedings now except in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. Both of those I seem to be really full on just 1 side, so she just takes 1 side and is fine. Reflux: If she eats a lot, she spits up. That's really all I've seen. There is a little spit up with most feedings, but nothing crazy. I didn't notice any change with breast milk as opposed to formula. She seemed to do fine with the formula, both with bowe...

Newborn Summary: Week 7

The week I earned my Parent Card. Seriously. The week began with Thanksgiving celebration at Lew's parent's house. 2 days later, the stomach bug hit our house really hard. Lewis got it bad and it basically lasted the whole week between him, me & Isis all getting it to some degree. Thankfully Lux didn't get it, but it did end up affecting things with her. Here's how: Nursing: Nursing was fine at the beginning of the week. Then Tuesday I got sick. I never had the vomiting like Lewis did, but I had other stuff and I lost my appetite completely and didn't eat the entire day. So then on Wednesday, I noticed a significant drop in my milk supply. It was clear that Lux wasn't getting enough and finally on Thursday I had to supplement with some formula a couple of times. I usually can pump from one side and get 5 ounces since I was doing single side nursing. On Thursday, I decided to pump one time to see how much I was producing and I got 2 ounces total from...

Newborn Summary: Week 6

(I wrote this last week & then never edited & published it. Whoops!)   First of all, I need to get back to posting on this blog! With the holidays, our week was a little crazy and I don't even think I opened my computer!   Nursing: Nursing has been about the same this week. I tried a few times to offer both breasts for feedings. Sometimes she will take the other one, sometimes she won't. The biggest thing this week was a growth spurt on Sunday. She ate every 2 hours the entire day.   Burping: Also about the same. I try to burp her after every feeding except the middle of the night. Sometimes she burps, sometimes she doesn't.   Reflux: She spit up several times this week, but several times over the course of a week really isn't bad.   Waketime: I'm doing about 1 hour of waketime at each cycle. At night she will go longer before bed. Sometimes I can't get her to go a full hour, so she goes down early. I've been trying ...

Newborn Summary: Week 5

Nursing: I had some issues with nursing this week. I had mentioned last week that I wanted to start pumping more to build a milk supply. Well, I tried that, but it didn't work. Because I nurse from one side at a time, when I pumped in the morning, it just basically took what I had and it hadn't fully replenished by the time she would eat next. So I tried feeding her from both sides all day, but she never seemed to have enough & she wouldn't sleep well & would be fussy all day. I tried it for 2 days & decided it just wasn't that worth it to build a pumped milk supply. I went back to just feeding her in the morning & doing one side at a time all day. As soon as she starts sleeping 12 hours consistently, I can pump at 10:00 before I go to bed to get a bottle.    I'm also going to just pump when I'm at school when I go back to work & just have that. This means I'll have to supplement with formula, but I knew I would have to do that ...

Newborn Summary: Week 4

Establishing some form of consistency... Nursing: Nursing is going great. She is still doing 1 side at a time for the most part, but I did have an issue this week where I pumped first thing in the morning after I fed her & then my supply seemed weird all day & I had to feed from both sides several times so she would have enough. I've decided that I'm going to start trying to pump after every feeding to build up a supply before I go back to school and I'm also going to try feeding her from both sides every time if I can. I just know I need to start pumping more, so I'll see if that changes anything. Burping: She still burps after most feedings, but not all. I don't burp her in the middle of the night. That's still going fine. Reflux: She's been spitting up occasionally, but not every time. It's not excessive or anything, just a little here & there. She'll do more if she has a really big feeding or eats really fast at firs...

Newborn Summary: Week 3

Time for the sleep issues... Gas: Still no issues! I may stop discussing this unless it becomes an issue. Nursing: She's still nursing like a champ. She usually does 1 side a time still for about 12-20 minutes, but there have been a few times that she's done both sides. She may have had a growth spurt early this week, but it wasn't as pronounced as it was when Isis has a growth spurt. Lux seems to just eat a lot either way and we've gone to the doctor once a week basically since she was born and she's been gaining a pound a week!! She is now at 9lb 11oz as of 3 weeks exactly. So she's clearly getting whatever she needs from her breastfeeding! Burping: She will usually burp once after a feeding. I only occasionally burp her in the middle of the night. She's usually been so tired while she was nursing & completely asleep afterwards in the middle of the night that I just don't even bother. Reflux: She did have a day or 2 where ref...

Newborn Summary: Week 2

This week has been better in some ways and harder in others. Ah, the journey with a newborn.   Gas: She still isn't showing any gas issues. I'm thankful for that!   Nursing: Nursing is still going well. She's eating a full feeding every time. I'm doing single side nursing and she's nursing for anywhere from 12 to 20 minutes on a side when she nurses. I did this with Isis, too when she was a newborn & there was a growth spurt where she started eating from both sides every time. We'll see if Lux does the same. There still hasn't been a growth spurt yet, so I'm waiting for that.   I did have a slight problem with her latching on the right side. She would do great on the left, but it always hurt pretty bad when she'd first latch on the right. I talked to my midwife about it at my 2 week appointment and she helped me get it right. It's been better since then. I did have a couple of those nights this week where I woke up supe...