Assessing

The Mad Hatter

They don't tell you how rocky the first month is with an infant. Plenty is said and written about labor and delivery, but info on surviving the first few weeks is painfully slim. I argue strongly that it's much much harder than giving birth, an extremely short period of time in comparison.

The way to survive seems to be to plow through, keep your heads above water and try to see how much has improved in that time.

On this side of two weeks, I still struggle a lot to get through the day. But we have improved on a lot of things since Lyla was born:

1. Nursing is easier. Our start was more difficult from the C-section, but her and my instincts were good and we improved quickly. We'll keep tweaking things for a little while- I've recently started flipping her on her side so she can control the flow better- but we're in a good spot.

2. Lyla's night sleep schedule fluctuates from 2-4 feedings. Last night for example we did 11:00pm, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, and 8:00am. Yesterday she went back to sleep after a 6:00am meal, today she did not. Last week she had two nights in a row of waking just twice and that was awesome. I wish it had stuck, but it should someday.

3. She fusses most first thing in the morning and around dinnertime. Bouncing around and pounding on the back helps. For some reason her immature digestive system gives her more trouble at these times.

4. She still doesn't love tummy time, but she can lift her head 45 degrees which is excellent, what we'd hope she could do by 1 month.



4. Lyla has had some big spit-up/vomit sessions, and while it's normal for babies to spit up this was a little excessive. The symptoms she shows- gulping and sputtering at the beginning of a feeding, coughin while eating, gassy burps- point to an oversupply of milk. I'm not surprised from all the pumping the nurses had me do in the hospital. Changing her position, as I mentioned above, has really helped with this issue.


5. She's starting to show glimmers of social development- holding your gaze, watching toys and her mobile, involuntary smiles, a few coos here and there. These moments are the best.