Baby Gym time

Go figure. He seems to prefer the giraffe to others. Maybe it's because of his lovely giraffe outfit? or the sleeper with the giraffe. or that mama wears shirts with giraffes. or that dad is as tall as a giraffe. or he likes orange.

Updates with a smile

Elliot and I have had a few days now to really get to know each other. Chris left for 2 weeks in Ecuador, so it's been just babe and mom for 4 days now. The first day was tough. He cried A LOT and I had no relief. I was kind of mad at him (though when he smiled at me, it sort of made up for his behavior). The last 3 days have been very good though. I'm starting to put him on a sleep schedule. To bed between 7:30 and 8pm. He's waking up to feed every 3-3.5 hours in the night. That's doable. It's still every 2 hours during the day. We get up together around 7 or 8am. He still naps a lot during the day. It lets me work on projects (yay!). And when I want him to nap, I just wrap him up in the Moby on my chest and go for a walk. Works every time.

Feeding updates: we're giving nursing one last try. My first attempt to wean him from the bottle didn't go very well a few weeks ago. I'll give it a time limit, if he still prefers the bottle and won't breastfeed, so be it, and we progress from there with continued pumping and bottles. He's gaining weight very well (on Tues he was 11 lbs 10 oz, now 50% for his actual birthdate) and is happy (as far as you can tell a baby is happy). I'm doing alright now with the pumping (benefits being it gives me 15 min of knitting/reading time every 4 hours, and I can see the amount of milk Elliot drinks--the scientist in me likes that part a lot).

Here's a photo of him this morning. Smiling and wiggling away while watching me pump his next meal.

Mom and Babe

My little chunky monkey.

Grandparental visits (and other family too!)

Grandma and Grandad visited in mid-August, and gave Elliot a Native American Children's blessing. Oh, and Aunty Becky made an appearance too.


My mom, Nana, with Elliot in early August.
Nana and Papa came back for a visit in early September. Wow, he's so much bigger!

And the honorary grandparents, Cheryl and Del (in mid-August).

more on breastfeeding woes

I'm trying now some new techniques to ween baby off bottles and onto breast, one feeding at a time. We'll see how it goes, and if it makes us all grumpy for a while but happier later on. I've also found out that there's a La Leche League meeting monthly within walking distance from our house! I'll go next week.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement from everyone. I DON'T feel like a completely bad mother, it's just frustrating . . . In a few months I/he/we won't remember any of this, right?

sigh and argh

argh.
Here's an update on breastfeeding and our failures at it. At one point a few weeks back, I thought Elliot was starting to get it. But I was wrong.
He nurses a little every other feeding or so. This usually lasts from 2-15 minutes, but it's never enough for a real meal. He's always still hungry when he spits out the nipple, and refuses to take it again (and the crying is even louder if I try to offer the other side). So, I still have to pump and feed him with a bottle.
Nipple confusion? Dislike of nursing? Other issues?
It's frustrating. But at least he's getting breast milk.

However a new issue came to light the other day. I keep saying, "But at least he's getting breast milk." and "I don't mind pumping as long as he's getting my milk." We had the opportunity to go whale watching this weekend, but couldn't go because pumping is NOT really portable. Yes, I could take bottles ( I have plenty). But pumping in the car or on a boat with lots of other people, or in a public place isn't really doable. And if I don't pump multiple times in the day, my milk slows, my boobs hurt and it's an all round bad situation.

It also makes me feel like a bad parent to not be able to do this basic human/mammalian procedure. Also, he's just fussy, crying A LOT these days, so that contributes to my feeling like a bad mother. I just want a happy baby. He's decidedly not happy right now. Nursing would be a comfort to both him AND me.
Sigh.