a Breastfed baby...

I had a few misconceptions about breastfeeding and a breastfed baby.  Or perhaps the misconceptions are just about my daughter.  

• Breastfed babies will not burp as often.  They take in less air so the assumption is that they might not have to burp every time they eat like a formula fed baby.  I get the theory.  However, my little girl could compete with a fraternity burp contest.  She belches like a man.  Every.Single.Time  And if she doesn't get a burp out? Then you better be prepared to suffer the screaming fits that come along later. 
• Breastfed babies don't poop as much as formula fed babies.  I don't recall where I heard this one or why I ever thought that was the case.  I thought wrong.  For the first two months of Charlie's life she would fart/poop every time she ate.  She ate every two hours.  Entering into month three my darling daughter is able to blow out of any diaper brand you attach to her adorable little tush. I've cut her out of two onesies so far in her very short life.  It's amazing. 
• Breastfed babies get more baby chub.  I was expecting baby rolls and I have been sorely disappointed.  Perhaps its her genetics or maybe I just made a bad assumption on this one but my little peanut is just that, a little peanut.  

We are a week and a half away from Charlie turning 3 months old.  And we are still going strong with breastfeeding.  Although she is exclusively fed breast milk the bottle was introduced in week two.  She's  had a pacifier since she was 2 days old.  And, knock on wood, we haven't had any nipple confusion.  

However, now that I've returned to work and Charlie is with my sister all day, she's started to resent the bottle.  She'll eventually eat but when you first give her the bottle she'll choke, gag and use all kinds of antics to avoid.  The bottle aversion literally started in the last week before I returned to work.  Up until then she's had a full day of bottles when the husband and I attended a wedding one month and a concert the next.  She's had a bottle every single morning with her probiotic since she was a month old.   Hopefully it's just a phase.

Charlie 2 Months

I keep an ongoing "Baby Notes" in my notepad app on my cell phone.  When I'm pumping, nursing or just generally have a free brain cell to jot tidbits down about Charlie I try to do so.  So although month one was done in sections, going forward I'm going to use bullet points.

I think these two pictures really emphasize Charlie's changes from month one to two.  

So in Month 2 of Charlie's life...

• She was exclusively fed breast milk and would take bottle or boob without fuss.
• She started holding her head up more and more on her own
• She had her first trip to the beach at 7 weeks.  We went to Ocean City, MD with my mom, dad and brother. 
• She has started to coo and smile.  It wasn't all the time but once she got started, she just didn't stop.  My goodness when this girl gets to talking I'm going to be in trouble. 
• She was diagnosed with reflux and started a powder probiotic mixed with breast milk in the morning daily. Showed vast improvement with the burping and pooping. There was a lot of debate about what I was eating or drinking and how it was affecting her. I avoided dairy completely, tried not to over do the red sauce and wasn't eating anything spicy. 
• When we went to the doctor about the reflux Charlie weighed in at 8 lbs 
• Mommy & Daddy had their first really long day away from baby and went to the Jason Aldean concert.   My sister watched her for us and she was a complete doll for her.  Took the bottle, no biggie. 
• Sleeping 3-4 hours at a time.  Usually getting up around midnight and back up again at 4-5 in the morning to eat.  Still sleeping in her lounger beside our bed.  Emphasis on MY side of the bed.  Daddy somehow manages to sleep through all of this little girls grunts, groans and stretches. She is the noisiest sleeper I've ever encountered.  She's also a blanket sleeper.  She loves a soft blanket up by her face and cuddled down in.  
• In month two Charlie began to get into her 0-3 outfits and mama packed away all the newborn stuff. 

Month Two brought more changes and evolution.  I've seen babies grow up with my nephews and my friends kids but it's still astonishing to me that this is my baby and I'm watching her grow.  In some ways month two was still a point that I felt like I was a long term babysitter and I was just waiting for someone to come pick up this adorable little girl.  I know the majority of parents say how lucky they feel but really, I feel so lucky and blessed. 

Charlie 1 Month

This mama is sooo behind so let's jump right in shall we? 

Month One

Sleep: The first few nights before my milk came in she was up every two hours.  Not long after my milk was in Charlie started sleeping 3-4 hour stretches.  There are even some nights she'll go 6 hours straight.  This month consisted of a lot of sleeping.  Day sleeping, night sleeping.  But that's newborn days right? 

Eating: Month One consisted of every two hours.  When she hit 3 weeks old, she had a few consecutive days that she would nurse every hour for 20 minutes.  If you do the math that means by the time she finished nursing, she burped there was perhaps 20 minutes left to enjoy to myself.  We went through a phase where she refused the left breast.  I mean, screamed bloody hell and acted like I was killing her.  There were a few days (okay, several) that I almost threw in the towel on nursing and went straight to the store for formula.  I wanted to pull my hair out.  Thankfully both the breast preference and the every hour nursing were phases.  We started using a bottle once a day at 2 weeks old and she did great.  There was a little bit of tension when I would try to nurse her so we eliminated the bottle for a little while. 

Wearing: Newborn sizes in both clothes and diapers.  Charlie is long and lean it seems.  I keep waiting for her to get those baby chubs and it doesn't seem to be catching on.  This makes clothes a bit difficult.  She worn newborn sizes all through month one though but there were brands that worked and some that didn't.  

Size: Charlie was born at 6 lbs 7 oz and 19 inches long.  We left the hospital at 6 lbs 4 oz.  She progressively gained weight and her pediatrician was pleased.  Two weeks after she was born she weighed in 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 and half inches long.