Berg Blogger: shouldn’t I be more stressed?

I’m happy to report that my first week at home alone with Riley has been a good one. In the main areas of eating, sleeping and getting out of the house, he’s proving to be an easy baby.

Eating:

We’ve continued to have our b/f difficulties due to latching problems so I had another consultation with the lactation specialist two days ago. I’ve been pumping in the meantime, so my milk supply is abundant, but that gets to be a drag now that I’m ready to get out of the house more. I’ve added two accessories that have fixed the main problems – a new nursing pillow and a nipple shield. The new pillow (ridiculously called “My Brest Friend”) has allowed me to get Riley positioned correctly. The shield helps my nips heal as we continue to practice nursing. I’m happy to report that we have had two full successful days of b/f. I’m much more hopeful that we’ll be able to get in sync with each other and that I’ll be able to ditch both accessories before too long. I’ll still pump at the end of the night so J can give Riley a bottle, but at least the majority of the feedings will be straight from me.

A first for us today is that we were able to b/f discreetly in the car today – twice – so we won’t be tethered to the house for feedings anymore.

Sleeping:

Riley continues to wake just once in the middle of the night and again in the early morning. He still sleeps a lot during the day and is getting used to a daily rhythm of sleeping, eating and wake time (if he stays awake after feeding) before the cycle begins again. I don’t watch the clock too closely; I just try and keep him feeding every 2 - 3.5 hours depending on his hunger cues and how long he’s been sleeping.

A first for us today is that he is being moved from his bassinet to his crib due to my inability to sleep through some of the noise that he makes in his sleep. Since he gives a holler when he’s through his 30 min wakeup process, we’ll be able to hear him in his room with no problem. I hope to regain the 2 hours of sleep I’ve been losing the past 5 days or so.

Getting Out:

I have a built in need to get out of the house on a daily basis. In addition to doctor’s appointments and trips to the store, we’ve been able to visit my colleagues at InterGen, take several long walks around Lake Quannapowitt (in the neighboring town of Wakefield) and today Riley got to hear his first ocean waves as we took a stroll along the Gloucester waterfront. He has done great on all of his excursions and not a complaint so far.

I’ll close with a few pictures of our sweet boy that were taken during the past week. The first shows how he manages to wrest his arms out of the tightest swaddle –the reason he has to move to his crib is the loud grunting noises he makes while doing so.