Madeline: Two Months
I can’t believe is our baby girl is two months old! Actually, I feel like two months is sort of an odd place to be. Parenthood is still so new to us and we are still trying to get the hang of taking care of a baby, she is not quite on a schedule yet, and everything still seems like kind of a mess.
This second month has been much easier than the first. You may remember in my one month update, I talked about how challenging breastfeeding was. Well, we found out at Maddie’s one month checkup that she had not really gained much weight over the previous weeks since she had last been weighed. This all of course meant that I did indeed have low milk supply and thus we had to move on to formula feeding. Obviously, this is not what I had hoped for and wished breastfeeding would have worked out for us, but there is nothing I can do about this and what is most important is that we get this baby fed and healthy! We went back to the doctor 4 days after starting formula and she had already gained 12 ounces! When we compare her most recent photos to pictures from a month ago, we can’t believe the difference! She is getting all chunky and delicious! Her newborn clothes are starting to get tight so I know she will be out of those in the next few weeks.
This change in her feeding has really made a difference in not just her weight, but her overall demeanor. She is happier and less gassy. As long as she is fed and not gassy, she will happily just hang out and look around, watch mama cook in the kitchen and take photos for the blog. I am still working on pumping so we can give her a bottle of day of breast milk, but it is a lot of work and takes me all day to get enough for just one bottle and sometimes it’s not enough. I am going to try to keep it up as long as I can, but I’m not sure it’s worth all the work for such a little amount once she really starts eating more at each feeding. Our challenge now is figuring out which formula is best for her. We still feel like she is extremely gassy and squirmy some days. We have her on a gentle formula now and are giving it some time to see how she does on it.
Sleeping! So in my one month update, I also said we weren’t into swaddling. Well, that has also changed! Once we got back from the holidays, we started to realize that Maddie’s arms were waking her up every time we attempted to put her on her back or side to sleep. She doesn’t have total control of them yet, so as soon as we would lay her down, her arms would start squirming, rubbing her face, and then she would wake up. So, we went back to using our swaddling wraps and now she will sleep anywhere from 6 1/2-8 hours straight at night! We have been having a hard time getting her down before midnight though, but we are certainly thankful for her sleeping so long. She is starting to want to sleep around 7 or 8, but whenever she does, it’s for no longer than 30 minutes to 2 hours and then she is up again until midnight or so. I’m hoping we can start moving her bedtime up a bit over this next month.
Napping is really unpredictable. Some days she barely naps at all except for maybe a couple of 30 minute naps and some days she will nap for hours. A lot of this seems to depend on her gassiniess and if she has pooped or not. Homegirl is not happy when she hasn’t pooped! P.S. Is all of this TMI?!
On a more fun note, we are loving all of the little smiles and have noticed a lot more cooing and babbling which we love. Maddie especially loves having conversations with her daddy. She is a total daddy’s girl. She still isn’t really able to grasp at toys, but she absolutely loves her Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes radio and anything that has lights and plays music. She also loves chilling on her activity mat. And now that she has finally been growing, she has been spending more time in her swing and napping in it since she now actually fits in the thing!
I hope you all are enjoying these little baby updates! I went ahead and added a Baby section to the blog. I love sharing our adventure with you and will continue to post monthly updates. Stay tuned later this week as I plan to share some of my top baby registry items!
6 Comments on “Madeline: Two Months”
I just love getting to hear all about your adventures in being a mom :D
I love getting the updates. I am six weeks away today and taking notes! Her smiles are so adorable.
I love hearing about your baby updates, Steph! Makes me what a baby so much heh :). Can’t wait to meet Madeline :)
Such a gorgeous smile :D
And curious eyes!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
She is just such a cutie!! I love your updates so keep em’ coming! :)
Those little cheeks are the best! She’s precious, Steph and I love seeing your photos on Instagram! :)