7 WEEK UPDATE

This week was a bit of a challenge with a lot of ups and downs. She is pretty much a "textbook baby" in that 7-8 weeks is a typical "fussy" week due to growth spurts and the 45 minute intruder. (I'll explain later.)

WEIGHT / STATS

Kelsey weighed 12 lbs. 5 oz. this week, which was only up 3 oz. from last week. That's a huge change from weeks past when she was gaining almost 1 lb. per week. If she was underweight or small for her age, I'd be worried, but considering she hasn't wanted to eat much this week, it doesn't surprise me, and I won't be worried unless this pattern continues.

SLEEPING

Kelsey's sleeping wasn't great this week. The "45 Minute Intruder" definitely made itself known this week as she would wake and fuss 45 minutes into her naps quite a few days and couldn't settle herself back down. Before this week, I'd often hear her rustling about or making little noises at that 45 minute sleep transition mark, but she could typically stay asleep or sooth herself back to sleep. But not this week. Sometimes I could pat her or shush her back to sleep, but even then, the rest of her nap would be fitful. Also, it was hard a few nights to get her settled in to sleep for bedtime. She also woke up around 3:30 a few nights instead of 4:30 or so that she was doing. I really think that she is maybe having a typical growth spurt which would help explain it.

FEEDING

Kelsey started off still not wanting to eat much, especially at her 7:00ish feeding. She is really only averaging about 19 oz. a day which is way under the 28 or so that she should be getting. Granted, she is still getting rice cereal in her bottle for her reflux, so she does have those added calories, so maybe that is okay??? However, the last couple of days she has been willing to eat a bit more, and today she really had a hard time sleeping through her naps, so I began feeding her early, and she'd take a full feeding, which is so unlike before when she would fight the bottle if I tried to give it to her any before 3 hours. Today I fed her at 11, 2:15, 4:15, 6:45 and she ate a whole 3 oz bottle each time. A couple times I kinda thought she could have eaten even more that that. (I used to have to force 3 ounces and sometimes could only get 2 out of her. Before this eating boycott, she was eating 4 ounces at a time, so...)

REFLUX

We haven't really dealt a whole lot this her reflux this week in and of itself. She hasn't spit up or projectile vomitted this week, so that's an improvement. She continues to get a full tablet of Prevacid first thing in the morning, though I need a better way of giving it to her instead of dissolving in water and giving it to her in a syringe because she tends to drool most of it out sometimes.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule has been kinda inconsistent this week as we work through the sleeping and eating issues. I'm also still trying to figure out how to do bedtime with both girls since I have to do it myself most nights, and I have this euphoric idea that they should both be in bed by 8:00. It's tough to get that done when Jared is not home. But I'm working on it. For the most part, we're still doing the following schedule:

7:15 Wake up and take Prevacid

7:30 Eat

8:00 Waketime

8:15 Nap

10:30 Eat (though I have to wake her every day, so maybe we'll move to 11:00?)

11:00 Waketime

11:30 Nap

1:30 Eat

2:00 Waketime

2:30 Nap

4:00 or 4:30 Eat

5:00 Waketime

5:30 Nap / Witching Hour (Usually doesn't take nap or doesn't sleep much, so we try to go on walks)

7:00 Eat (Most of the time she cries and doesn't want to eat)

7:30 Bath

7:45 Bed

One night I had to stop feeding her at 7:00 because she wouldn't have it. So, I gave her a bath to calm her down (she loves her baths) and after we got jammies on, I swaddled her and then tried to feed her again in the rocking chair where she ate as she fell asleep and then I laid her in bed asleep. That night she slept great. I'm tempted to do it this way instead, but except for the dreamfeed and the middle of the night, I never "feed her to sleep." She always goes down awake or drowsy, so I am not sure I want to start that at bedtime, but..... We'll see if bedtime straightens out in a few days or not before I make a decision on that.

MILESTONES

Kelsey continued to give out lots of smiles this week, and it almost seemed a few times that she was laughing. She also is gaining much better control of her head, and when I put her on her tummy this week, she could even lift her head for a bit. She is also starting to track things with her eyes pretty well.

Hopefully next week will even out a bit....