Toby: 4 Months!

Lots of changes in our household this past month!  Hubby is now on a 5am-2pm shift because he’s working with UK clients.  It’s been hard adjusting to him going to sleep by 9PM, but it’s been nice having him home in the afternoons.  And because he’s home earlier, it means I can go back to work part-time…but I’m working from home.  Goal is to hopefully get an hour done in the mornings when Toby’s in a good mood and enjoys playing on his own for a bit and then getting a few more hours done in the afternoon while Toby hangs out with Daddy.  Hoping these new changes work out for the best for us and we can make the most of them!

Other than that, this past month has been full of more smiles and giggles.  If you get Toby “talking” and then start tickling him he will give the best throat-y, gurgly belly laugh.  He talks the most when he’s laying down on the couch next to you or on his changing table.  He’s typically in a pretty good mood now most of the day.  Definitely still has his fussy moments here and there, but they’re rare and usually only in the evenings as we’re still trying to figure out his bedtime.  When he’s not smiling, he is usually checking out his surrounding and being very serious.  We went to Panera a couple weeks ago and he didn’t make a peep the whole time we were there because he was too busy watching everyone.   Guess he’s a little nosy :)  Who doesn’t like to people-watch, though?

We are still going to baby yoga on Friday mornings – I love it and I’m pretty sure Toby does, too :)  It’s nice to get out of the house and do something besides errands, and Toby loves checking out everyone in the class, including the instructor.  He is always smiling when she is talking!  Such a flirt.  There are 6 other families in the class and the babies are all boys, ranging from 2 months to 5.5 months old.  Toby never fusses doing any of the exercises and has gotten much better with tummy time.  I can also tell he’s getting pretty flexible, as he grabs his toes all the time now.  I’m sure he would have started doing these things on his own in time, but I really feel like yoga has helped to speed it up.  And apparently the class relaxes him, as he always falls asleep 2/3 of the way through.  I can tell he’s starting to get sleepy, so I’ll sway him back and forth while sitting down and he’ll just pass out.  At least we get to try most of the moves out before he falls asleep :)

Weight: 12 pounds, 5 ounces (5th percentile).  His doctor wasn’t too concerned about his weight but said it’s probably a good idea to give him some formula in the afternoon or evening for an extra calorie boost. 

Height:  26 inches…still long and lean!

Medical Issues: Cradle cap just will not go away – I put baby oil on his scalp twice a day and then gently scrape with a comb at night and it’s still so dry and flaky.  His doctor recommended to use dandruff shampoo twice a week and let it soak into his scalp during the bath.  Also has a rash on his neck from where he has a couple of fat rolls that stick together :)  She said vaseline may help keep moisture away from it but it probably won’t clear up completely until he’s sitting up better and his neck isn’t so squished. 

Sleep: We were doing pretty well with him being put down in the crib sometime between 8-9pm and then sleeping until 2ish.  I would go in, put in the pacifier at this point, and he’d fall back asleep until 3:30 or 4AM.  After a quick nursing session he would fall back asleep until about 8, which was AWESOME.  Waking up at 8 is the perfect time as it isn’t too early in the morning and yet it still gives us enough time to get ready and do errands with feeling like we didn’t waste the day away.  So that’s how sleep went for a few weeks and then we decided to wean the swaddle after he rolled a few times from back to tummy last week on his activity mat…that threw the sleep schedule off completely the first two nights we tried it.  He would cry as soon as we put him down in the crib and would wake up once an hour several times a night, mostly because his arms would flail around and wake him up (one night we tried swaddling one arm still in and that didn’t go well so we had to stop it cold turkey).  However, most times he would put himself back to sleep after fussing for a few minutes (we always wait 10 minutes and then go in to soothe if still necessary since usually he works it out by the 8 minute mark on his own).  After the first couple rough nights, he had two really good nights where he slept straight through from 8:3o until 4, up to eat, back to sleep until 8.  The last two nights he’s woken up a few times from 8:30 until 11, but then falls back asleep until 3:30.  He adjusted fairly quickly without the swaddle for naps – he still fusses for about 5 minutes when I put him down but I do not rock him at all for naps anymore so I know that’s why.  He has been napping about 30-40 minutes without the swaddle.  I tried getting him to combine two of his afternoon naps into one long nap and it didn’t work, so I guess he’s just a short napper.

Clothes/Diapers: We switched to 3-6 month and 6 month clothing when the weather started to cool down in late September.  He was growing out of a lot of the 0-3 summer stuff lengthwise anyway.  I thought he’d be swimming in the larger clothes but basically everything fits him pretty well with the exception of pants being loose around his waist.  For diapers, we are just about out of size 1’s…guessing we only have a week’s worth to finish up before moving onto 2’s.  We’ve had a few close calls so it’s definitely time to switch.  Still loving Pamper’s Swaddlers – they’re so soft compared to other diapers and I can see why they’re expensive – definitely worth the cost and I really don’t mind spending the extra money on them as we’ve probably only had about 5 leaks since he’s been born (never pee ones, though). 

Diet: One week shortly after his three month birthday, we added formula to a bottle before bedtime to see if it would help him sleep longer at night (did half formula and half breastmilk).  Did it work?  Eh, not really.  Some nights he slept an extra hour, some nights he woke up earlier than normal.  Really all the formula did was make him poop more…lovely.  We decided to just go back to only breastmilk, but now we’ll be adding a bottle of formula to help him gain some weight.  He is nursing every 3 hours during the day (usually at 8AM, 11AM, 2PM, 8PM and an early AM session).  For the 5PM feeding, we usually do a bottle and he gets 5oz.  I think for this bottle, it will be all formula and then I’ll just freeze whatever I pump. 

Baby Gear Love: Board books – he loves the simple touch and feel ones with large pictures and just one word on each page.  And “Crinkly Star” is a new hit – it’s a lightweight teething blanket.  He loves cuddling with it and is starting to realize the corners are fun to put in his mouth.

Milestones/Firsts: Rolled from tummy to back on 9/19 (knew it wasn’t a fluke since he did it twice in a row!).  He started cooing weeks ago, but he really started “talking” and shrieking the last week of September – totally found his voice!  Rolled from back to tummy a few times on 10/10 on his activity mat.  Started grabbing his feet the second week of October.  First time to Pumpkintown in East Hampton, CT on 10/6.  First time apple picking on 10/11.  Started bringing toys to his mouth on his own in early October.

Likes: Talking, talking, talking!  He will really start having a conversation with you if you lay him on the changing table or a couch where he can look directly up at you.  Also loves being read to and looking at books.  And unfortunately he has started to turn his neck around to watch TV…trying to not make that a habit.  He also prefers to always stand instead of sitting.  And the fascination with hands and putting everything to his mouth has started. 

Dislikes: Mommy and Toby are not fans of cold weather clothes…just takes too long to put on pants and long sleeve shirts.  Also not happy when he realizes he’s being put down for a nap.  He knows as soon as you bring him over to the crib and will start crying.  He’s gotten very easygoing but will let you know right away if he’s not happy with something – can go from happy to frustrated in literally 2 seconds :)

Postpartum: I have to admit I feel guilty and sad about Toby’s weight gain – it’s a lot of pressure for him to gain weight when I’m his main food source and because he hasn’t gained a lot over the past couple months I almost feel like I failed.  I’ve been debating switching him to formula for the past couple weeks so I guess this is a sign it’s time.  Still undecided if I want to continue breastfeeding and supplement with formula or just completely switch to formula.  Not an easy decision.  For other stuff, I started to do the 30 Day Shred but that lasted 4 days before I stopped.  Let’s just say the last thing I want to do during nap time is exercise…but I know I have to do it to get the last 5 pounds off.  Once I figure out the work-at-home routine, I’m making it a goal to get some exercise back into my day.  At least all my jeans fit now, though!  My hair was still falling out in clumps until my hair-cut last weekend so that’s helped with the shedding.