Feeding frenzy? ... oh, it's a "cluster", alright!

We hit another milestone this weekend with Claire. Our normally well-tempered, relatively patient baby girl suddenly became this red-faced, inconsolable screaming ball of angst ... it was horrifying! She goes from smiling to wailing in no seconds flat, wants to eat -- often fussing all the while and sometimes only for a few minutes -- but then wants to eat again in another hour, and is sleeping at odd times and durations. Our "heathly eater" has always cluster fed and been a little fussier in the evenings, but the around the clock eating and outright screaming is something else. And never before have we felt as though we just couldn't console her pretty quickly through our usual methods of which we have gathered quite a few over the last 6 weeks. What I thought was becoming smoother sailing had suddenly been thrown into crazy, rocky waters.

After consulting many a website, rifling through books, and taking a breather to just think, we're pretty sure we've figured it out: Claire is going through her 6ish-week growth spurt, and they definitely are growing pains!

Apparently, babies have growth spurts that last 2-7 days at predictable times -- 10 days, 3-4 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. During that time, babies are hungry all the time (often latching/unlatching and fussing in betweeen), don't want to sleep through the night, and are generally fussier than usual. It's also supposed to be followed by a period of hibernation which we have not reached yet, though she is sleeping at odd intervals.

Hmm ... the 10-day one I can't speak to because I'm pretty sure that was a sleepy haze that we just weathered through, but there was a rough patch around her one-month where I thought she was just overstimulated by a whole month of hand-offs from visitor to visitor.

It's pretty interesting, really. I guess an average baby will triple his birth weight and grow 8-10 inches in his first year! I did notice that Claire has suddenly filled her changing pad on the bassinet (meaning: she hit her head when she suddenly kicked her legs out -- whoops) and her onesies button at the bottom a little more tightly, but putting it all together was the key.

One thing I am confident of is that this, too, shall pass. Somehow just understanding the cause has a calming effect for me so that I can now good-naturedly feed on-demand without fearing that my milk supply is insufficient or foul; when something doesn't work to console her, we just try the next thing and the next and the next until you get back to the first; and we'll just keep looking forward to when she's past this and on to her next adventure! And when she grins that wide, toothless smile at you, it really erases any rough spots in the road; it's all worth it, every last second.

Oh, and we haven't tried the bottle again since starting this spurt on Saturday because things have been a little crazy. We'll probably try it again tonight or tomorrow (cross your fingers!).

http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?catref=prt32&storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/6071.xml
http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/growspu.asp
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html

Nipple Confusion?

Claire suddenly decided that she doesn't like bottles much which is something she'll need to get over before I go back to work in less than 6 weeks (eep!). It started last weekend where she was absolutely furious at having to be fed from a bottle but settled down nicely when I gave up and fed her off my boob. On Monday, we decided to try some different nipples ... 4 of them, actually. Nada. Tuesday, James was too traumatized by Monday so we took the day off. Wednesday, she took it like a champ and finished the whole bottle. Thursday, it took her about 4 tries and 3 hours, but we finally finished off her 3oz. Friday, she only finished about half before refusing to eat more.

She's selectively picky about her paci that way, too. Sometimes she gets REALLY pissed if you offer it to her, but other times she sucks it for hours straight. Hmmm ... well, Little Girl will have no choice once I go back to work, so I guess we'll keep on doing the one bottle a day.

Oh, and for those people who have been congratulating me on Claire sleeping in her bassinet, it was only those two days. :) The other days this week, she starts there, and we end up in the 2nd guest room (our modified "family bed"). Why the guest room bed? It's hard so she won't roll into me, low to the ground which saves my knees and alleviates the fear some of her rolling off the bed, large so that each have plenty of room, and it's not in the same room as James so that he can get some sleep since he has work. I have to admit that I was not a huge proponent of the family bed concept before for various reasons, but it's all about survival. Besides, I keep telling myself that it's baby steps ... at least she's sleeping on a flat surface without having me hold her!

Have My Cake and Eat It, Too (Zzzzzzzzz ...)

HUGE milestone laste night: Claire slept in her bassinet all night! It was pretty amazing. We've been working towards this day through a number of methods over the last week: taking naps together but not touching on the big bed, successfully differentiating day and night, putting her down to finish her naps, etc, but last night we took the plunge and put her in her bassinet to see how long it would last.

She took it like a pro. Sure, she needed her paci to suck on vigorously the entire time; and, sure, I was up every 30-40 minutes to stick it back in when it fell out and she whimpered, but she didn't cry, she didn't demand to be picked up, and she didn't ask for more than her paci and her standard feedings between the hours of 10pm and 7am!

So why the mixed feelings? Well, first, I'm not exactly sure how much sleep she actually got since she was sucking so vigorously all night and she's definitely exhausted today. Then there's the pacifier thing; without it, there was definitely distress and this really sad whimpering. How long should I encourage the use of the binky? And, selfishly, how long will I need to keep getting up every hour or so to stick it back into her mouth? This morning, I finally gave up about 5am after sticking the pacifier in again for about the 15th time and just held her in my arms on our familiar chaise after I fed her; we slept for 2 solid hours without a peep.

But I'm not complaining! I know that this is the foundation for future sleep patterns, and I actually slept in a fully horizontal position last night! Besides, I have a feeling that anytime I miss my baby and want to sleep with her cuddled in my arms, she won't complain ... at least not for a few more years. :)

Wait for it ... wait for it ... (thank you, Ergo!)

Okay, I KNOW that a newborn supposedly cannot be spoiled until they're 2-4 months old, but I'm pretty sure that the fact that Claire can only sleep if someone is holding her in their arms is some kind of learned behavior.

I exaggerate. You don't have to hold her the whole time ... she does sleep 30 min (and it's exactly 30 min) on her own very well, but if you need more than a half-hour of rest at a time, I hope you do well sleeping holding something in your arms! I know I've learned how. She even knows when I'm trying to trick her by holding her horizontal in bed; cheeky monkey.

Could this be from having family in town holding her for hours on-end? Or is there some sleep cycle that jars her awake at 30-min to investigate her surroundings? Whatever it is, I hope she outgrows it as I'm not sure my back/butt/shoulders/neck appreciate the transpacific-flight-pose all that much.

The only thing that seems to mimic the actual holding in my arms is my Ergo baby carrier. Thank you, Ergo, for giving me mobility! With her strapped in against me, I can free up my hands to do such things as laundry, the dishes, and type blog postings. I also have the Bjorn that I'll use more when she's upright and awake.


This is where Claire is a lot during the day (at least when she needs to sleep)

But there may be light at the end of the tunnel! Last night, James and I used every mechanism possible (pacifier + sleep positioner with heartbeat simulator + water sounds in her bassinet + full stomach + dry diaper) to get her to stay in her bed for a whole hour ... a new record! But, once she got hungry at 12:30, I couldn't seem to replicate the trick and made myself comfy on the chaise until another day.

Funny story (sorry, I have to bring it back to the boobs somehow). So, sometimes I get a little too full, but it's no big deal because I just express/feed for relief. Well, I was trying to figure out why Claire wasn't eating as enthusiastically when I realized that my full boobies spray on their own, and she just sits back and drinks in from the fountain! Would that be lazy or efficient of her? I thought it was ingenious. :D

Cool non-baby news: Cousin Daphne and Drew (Drew-Pee to us Pees) are getting married this fall, and it looks like it will be destination Outer Banks in North Carolina! Yay! We can't wait!

Mano-a-mano

Today's a big day for the Pee family. It's the start of Claire and I being mano-a-mano ... all by ourselves, one-on-one, during the day. Up until now, we have had family staying with us to help take care of us and help me through the "sitting month". While I definitely appreciate all of the help, I'm looking forward to this new phase of getting to really know my daughter. I've got eight more weeks until I go back to work, so I want to make sure I take advantage of this short time together.

The main fear I have is that it's all me. With the grandparents (and uncles and uncles' girlfriends) around, there were always extra sets of hands to pass her off when needed. Even though sometimes I got jealous and petulant about having to hand her over so much, at least I had the luxury to have multiple people being able to sway, shush, swaddle ... well, all those soothing tactics. Now, while James is at work, there are no other hands that I can pass her to in when she needs a change of scenery. But then, I embrace this new challenge to learn her different cries and figure out how to make them stop with as little trauma (to both of us) as possible!

So Day 1. So far, so good. It's pretty much the same as it has been the last four weeks except that I've had a lot more awake time to play with the little one. I have a feeling that the carriers that I have (loving the Ergo with the Infant Insert so far!) are going to come in very handy. :)

What I see from above.