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.
Great great photo! Feeling mad is understandable, when you are tired and at wits end. (I remember feeling angry with Chris when he was an infant: the important thing is what one DOES with it.) Well wishes with the next attempt at nursing. As you said, he will be the decider in the end, but for sure it's worth another try. It's also good to be moving him toward relaxed scheduling. You are coming up to a more fun phase!
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