BeBa

Jake will be four months old in three days! Time being the rubber band that it is, it seems like yesterday I found out I was pregnant with him and, simulataneously, it feels like he's been with us forever!

Saucer time!

Some notes on life with Jake:

• Jake is a wee bit ticklish. He'll laugh if we tickle his belly or underarms during diaper changing time. It's so cute, that we LOVE to change his diaper LOL. In fact, he generally adores diaper changing time, so it's a fun little event at our house – everyone available tends to gather round because he's so smiley and happy and interesting during that time.

• Jake loves the exersaucer. Truly, he LOVES that thing. Except when he wearies of it and has a tantrum and starts banging his head on the toys in frustration. Ouchie. I'm really impressed with the age-appropriate feedback they've built into this toy, though – just simple cause/effect that holds attention for 10-15 minutes at a time. Thank you to cousin McK and her mommy and daddy for passing it down.
• Grabby: Jake is reaching for EVERYTHING these days – just last week he discovered that he can ALSO make those delightful clicking noises right there in front of the computer, so now we compete for the keyboard! Very tricky sometimes…

  He grabs for our plates and the bites traveling to our mouths sometimes, too, if we're holding him when we're eating (which we usually are), but I don't know if he's interested in the food yet, per se. I don't think he's totally figured it out yet – that we eat food and it may be yummy.
  
  

• Bedtime routine. Usually we start winding down around 8 pm. Although often I'll nurse him right after dinner and he'll take a catnap on the breast for a half hour or so. This catnap seems to have no effect on his bedtime.

  He falls asleep for the night anytime between 8:30 and 10:30 – usually sometime between 9:30 and 10 on average. Last night he was really fussy after draining both breasts and having a long nursing session but not falling asleep. I calmed him down by having some gentle playtime on our bed until he started fussing again. I offered the breast and he refused (which he does by latch/unlatch/latch/unlatch, kick fuss wave arms) and finally I just laid him in the sidecar. He fussed for a minute, popped his thumb in his mouth and drifted off to sleep. We had the lullabye CD going too – he really responds to that "cue" that it's bedtime.

  Sometimes he sleeps through the night (until 4:30 or 5); usually he wakes up around 3 am to nurse. Sometimes, if we're very unlucky, he wakes up earlier, but that is increasingly rare.

• Naptime breakthrough:
  

  Jake and biggest sis M

  Jake has always been a sling or swing boy for naptimes. But every single week I persist in trying out the crib for naptimes, and every single time – until this past weekend – I failed.

  Suddenly one  weekend last month, I put him in his crib after nursing him to sleep and he slept there for over 2 hours! And he's successfully taken his naps there ever since.

  But, wait! There's more!

  A couple days later, I put him down there awake, sleepy and slightly fussy. He promptly konked!

  He's also figured out how to suck his thumb. I believe this is key to his daytime sleep success. The dark cloud to my silver lining.
  
  

• Baby weight woes. I've been a breastfeeding mother for over five years of my life. Who would have thought I would have any breastfeeding insecurities this time around?? But as it turns out I have a skinny babe. He is almost four months old and weighs 11lbs 14 oz which puts him under the fifth percentile. He is strong, alert, energetic and hitting all his milestones – some early. He is 25th-50th for length and 5-10th for head circumference.

  He was 8 lbs at birth (42.1 weeks gestation) and regained that after one week, but he has always ridden the back of the weight curve. I haven't been concerned because my mother-in-law has a similar tale to tell about Scott when he was a child – always skinny. He caught up as a teen and is average now.

  The pediatrician gave me a hard time about this last week, however. She says he may be okay now, but what about when he is rolling/crawling – he'll need more calories (um, supply and demand – he'll make more milk to compensate…). She said I have two choices: a bottle of formula per day or rice cereal.  (CEREAL?!?! Ugh)

  Seeing as how this milk grew 90th percentile babies, I feel pretty confident that it is not deficient. Though I suppose my diet could be better.

  In fact, I have five choices – in addition to her suggestions, which are very mediocre choices nutritionally, I also have the option to 1) Wait and see and 2) consult a lactation constultant and 3) supplement with breast milk, which is by far the superior choice considering that he is an exclusively breastfed baby.

• Erring on the side of caution, I spoke with a local lactation consultant and she's not concerned at all. Jake is gaining about 4 oz per week, which is the least they like to see a BF baby gain, but it is in the range of normal (4-8 ounces is expected; 6 oz is average). If he drops off from there, she would have more concerns about
  failure to thrive. But as long as he's gaining around one pound a month, staying on curve, hitting his milestones and peeing and pooping normally, there's no cause for concern. And he's on the mark in every regard. Until the doc freaked about this last week, it hadn't even crossed my mind that there was a problem. He's generally a happy, contented baby, a little ahead on most milestones. VERY strong and high energy. A great sleeper and a steady nurser.

  So I think I have some peace of mind. The LC has a little mama/baby shop not too far from me with baby scales, so I'm going to take him in there a couple times between now and his next appointment so I'm not blindsided by the number on the scale again. His next appointment is 2 months from now! An indication the doctor herself wasn't THAT worried about him which makes the offhand crappy advice about formula/cereal even that much more frustrating – and formula would be a not so great choice if he was FTT and it was all because of a dairy allergy.

  I am making some changes, since there's no harm with caution in this situation. I'm offering the breast more frequently, even when he hasn't necessarily expressed a desire to nurse. And I'm not popping him off when he falls asleep at the breast like I sometimes do, especially in the evening when he is wont to nurse and take a catnap at the same time. Last night he napped with the boob in his mouth for 1.5 hours after dinner while Scott did the kitchen cleanup and all the usual after dinner chores.

• Guilty confession: Jake loves Baby Einstein.

  We're not a big TV family – we don't even have cable and only one TV is hooked up to the antennae and that's the adult's TV. The kids only watch videos and DVDs occasionally. But a friend gave me a set of Baby Einstein DVDs, so I propped Jake in front of Baby Mozart this week and he loves it! It's so cute how he squeals and smiles and wiggles. I sit there next to him and watch him sometimes because his reactions are so fun.

  He only lasts about 15 -20 minutes though, then he's ready to move onto something else. 20 minutes represents a pretty amazing attention span in this energetic little guy, though – usually he's wanting to hop around from activity to activity every 5 minutes.

  The useful thing about this is that it keeps him entertained when he gets bored while we're trying to eat dinner, so we've actually had a couple of peaceful dinners this week! For that reason, I've been saving his viewing for dinnertime or later, though maybe I could use that to get a shower sometime, hmmm.

  ETA: All the big kids like watching it, too LOL. It is very mesmerizing and the music is quite relaxing.

• Biting baby! Jake's been doing this for a couple weeks (intermittently). Usually for us it happens when he's done nursing and rather than politely break suction, sometimes he'll release just enough to get my nipple between his gums and then cllllennnnnnnch. Freaking OW. Now if I see it coming, I insert a finger and break suction before he has a chance to bite down. Any hint whatsoever that he's going to bite and off the boob he goes. And before you ask: Nope, no signs of teething yet, but he sure is a drooly baby!
  

  Bumgenius-diagram

  
  
  

• Loving cloth diapers: This is the first time I've used cloth on my kids and I have to say that – so far <knock wood> – I'm loving it. I'm very happy that the BG2.0 and blueberries have worked out so well for Jake, because I would be very frustrated if I had to cycle through various options until I found the right one. That is a LOT of money.

  Anyway, so far, so good. We have some occasional leaks, including poopie blowouts, but they're pretty rare. No more or less than I've experienced using disposable dipes. Right now things are going well enough for us on the CD front that there would be no advantage to disposable – except of course the laundry factor.

  I do fatigue of doing diaper laundry every 2-3 days, but for the most part, I think it's worth it and it's not like it's hard. It's just One More Thing to Deal With.

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• Washing cloth diapers: Detergents and stripping tips
• Washing cloth diapers: Routine
• Might want to consider these dipes later… Baby Beehinds
• More detergent recommendations

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Bumgenius-diagram

Oh, I was resistant to do the cloth diapering thing. In large part because just researching the topic is so overwhelming and presented a timesuck challenge. I've slowly been coming round to the idea, especially after I kind of accidentally discovered the bumGenius 2.0 option recently.

What sealed it for me, though, was when I got my LANA nursing pads and tried them on earlier this week. OMG, they are SO soft and comfortable. I'm really sold on the concept – especially in how they compare to the disposable nursing pads I was using when I breastfed my other babies. It got me to thinking that I want Jakey to be that much more comfy, too.

My girls never had any problems with disposable diapers, but I am anticipating a more sensitive baby this time, based on Scott's skin sensitivities, particularly with contact allergic reactions. Also, there is some speculation about disposable diapers and the longterm fertility consequences for boys.

Anyway, there are a ton of good reasons for me to consider cloth diapering, especially since I work from home and we can afford the more convenient alternatives like fitteds, pockets and all-in-ones.

So I dug in, did my homework and have decided: We're going to do it. (And for the record, Scott is all for it, too. In fact, he's actually wanted me to CD all along because he thinks it's best for baby, environment, etc., BUT he didn't want to be pushy since I'm the one who will be doing the majority of the work (have I mentioned I ADORE this man). So he was pretty happy to see me researching and getting serious about this alternative.

The initial cloth diaper stash will look something like this:

Kissaluvs-colors-galores

For newborn stage (0-4 months):

• Three dozen Kissaluvs fitteds – size 0 – These seem to be universally hailed for newborns and explosive BF poop containment. I think I will feel very comfortable investing in a stash of these to get us through the first few months. (They are not so popular for older babies that have a greater bladder capacity and don't need to be changed with every feeding – absorbency apparently becomes an issue…)

Dream-eze-fitteds

For older baby (5+ months) – just considering for now; won't buy at first:

• Dream-eze fitteds (organic cotton and organic velour) – These are wildly popular, but also significantly more expensive than the Kissaluvs. Because they are so expensive, I'm wary about stashing a large supply of them for the newborn stage (which is relatively short compared to the length of time babies can wear the larger sizes). Also, I have a feeling we'll be using the bumGenius 2.0 once Jakey has chubbed out a bit.

• One dozen bumGenius one size – This seems like a low risk investment… over the course of 2-3 years I imagine we'll get enough use out of a dozen of these to warrant the risk of buying that many up front. And if it turns out to be a love affair at any point of the diaper stage, I will just buy more! Most of the complaints I've read about these have been in regard to their fit on a newborn.

Stacinator-fleece-leopa
rd

Assorted covers to try before making decisions about next size up:

• Bummi's Super Whisper Wrap – Wildflower Diapers is offering a free one of these per dozen Kissaluvs, so will have three of these on hand.
• Imse Vimse organic cotton – I'd like to try one of these
• Stacinator fleece – I want one in the leopard – so cute!
• Wonder Wraps – one size  | reviews
• And I'm thinking a couple wool covers, too: Like maybe this one? I also may try an Aristocrats. I'm really sold, in theory, on wool covers. I'm curious to see how they play out in practice.
• gDiaper starter kit – For $25, I think these are worth trying out. Even if we don't cotton to the flushable inserts (harrr), cloth diapering moms rave about the quality and effectiveness of the covers (plus they are really cute)!

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