Oliver: 4 Months
Well Ollie is officially 4 months old as of Tuesday. Boy have things changed. I thought I would break down what he is doing now by section. I have found I really like this format on Chronicles of a Babywise Mom…so I am going with that. It probably seems mundane to most readers but I like reading this when I am looking for what other x-aged kids are going through.
Eating
Oliver is still exclusively breastfed. We have a great nursing thing going with no more problems like early on. The combination of being the second kid and my new ability to nurse at work some has had a drastic help on this over Landon. It was about now that I was stressing out a lot with Landon. I couldn’t keep up with the bottle demands with my pumping and driving to him at lunch was causing me guilt at my job. It started to spiral at this point. I have none of that now. I usually only have to have 1 bottle per day but usually send 2 just for emergencies. I pump after I feed him in the morning for extra, once at work and then again after he goes to bed. This helps me make up the bottle for the next day plus some reserve and my night time bottle.
The night time bottle: I offer a small bottle(1-2 oz) of pumped milk before bed with Oliver. I did this with formula for L and wanted to continue this with O. I want to tank him up a little before bed because I get so busy in the late afternoon that I am not drinking as much (daycare pickup, dinner, playing, driving…etc) and my supply dips down. However, my main reason to do this is to make the bedtime routine void of boobage. I don’t nurse him to sleep on purpose. I nurse him usually around 6:30 downstairs with the family but the bottle is more formally part of the routine. This way I can hand off the routine when needed and just make the bottle bigger if needed. I have only done this once yet but I like having it flexible like that.
On a usual day he nurses around 5 times in the day and 1 to 2 at night (usually just 1). He is getting a 5oz bottle at daycare. Remember, breastfed babies don’t need incrementally bigger bottles like formula babies do. Mom’s milk changes composition over time to account for more calories without more quantity. more at kellymom
Sleeping
We are no longer victims to colic. He is more predictable and easier for us to read his cues. He is actually a pretty happy baby as long as his basic needs are met…and sleep is one. Here is where I have the hindsight. We were doing it “right” the whole time. He just needed to sort it out. Even through the toughest weeks, I kept with my routine. I did the same bedtime routine..same naptime routine…and eventually? It stuck. Now getting him to go to sleep is all routine.
For nap I take him up and put him in his sleep sack, turn on the white noise and lights off. I pat him on my shoulder a few times and then cradle him and sing him the same lullaby and jiggle a little. I can feel him relax in my arms. By the 3rd line, his eyes are drooping up and down. I finish the song and then lay him down. On rare occasion, he will cry out for maybe 2 cries and then either suck his thumb or just pass out instantly. This also worked the exact same in a new location at the river. His naps vary in length. We are still working on that. He seems to do really well with the first nap (1.5-2 hours) but the rest of the day is hit or miss. We let him cry a little when he wakes and sometimes he just goes back to sleep after a few minutes. Daycare is way different….you can see that in the schedules below.
For bedtime we do a longer version. Because he still can’t take being awake super long, usually by the time we get home from work and play for a few minutes he is getting pretty fussy. Some days he isn’t too bad and can sit on our lap for dinner and be fine but usually he is just falling apart. Good ole witching hour. With Landon, we had the same thing and we just put him down for bed then and ate dinner after that. We can’t do that this time because big bro needs to eat and have down time before bed. So we started putting him down for a quick cat nap while we cook dinner. I follow the routine above for nap and then he either wakes after that first sleep cycle or I wake him around 6ish or when we are done with dinner. I then nurse him around 6:30 while we watch a little TV or play together. After that he goes upstairs for a bath or wipe down, fresh diaper, jammies, sleep sack and a bottle. I do the same pats and song as naptime. He is usually putty in my hands at that point and just passes out. This is usually right around 7.
He still isn’t sleeping through the night but I don’t really expect/want him to. My aim right now is just 1 feeding per night. He has shown me multiple times that he only NEEDS the one…if that. A few weeks ago I put into place my “reverse gremlin” law. I would not feed him before midnight. Every time I did, he was obviously not hungry and just wanted to snack and go back to sleep. This was annoying for many reasons. this meant he would still need another feeding in the night (less sleep for me) and he would need a diaper change because of the amount of liquid consumed. This seems to be working well. He is usually waking sometime before midnight but cries for only a few minutes and goes back to sleep for a good chunk. The waking isn’t at the same time every time so I don’t know why. He seems to soothe himself pretty well. On a good night, I feed him around 12-2 timeframe and then he wakes up when we leave for work and makes it until 8 to eat again.
The swaddle is history. As of the night after I wrote the swaddling post, he broke free twice. The first time I went in and wrapped him back and nursed a bit. The second time we didn’t notice because he woke up talking (this happens a good bit) and went back to sleep with arms out. I took this as our sign he was ready. The next night we went arms free and haven’t looked back. He clearly was ready. It takes one less “what if” out of the night time troubleshooting now and he can self soothe with his hands.
Activities
Thumbs. I would say we have a thumbsucker but he doesn’t seem to want them all the time. Also it isn’t sucking as much as gnawing. I thought it was sign of teeth but it is on both sides and towards the back. He doesn’t seem in pain…just helps him chill out. Oh well. Kevin and I were both thumbsuckers and Landon has a short stint in the early months too. Who knows.
He smiles A LOT and loves to talk. He is constantly testing out what sounds he can make. He figured out really shrill screams this weekend. When I nurse at lunch, he often gets enough milk to satisfy him and pops off to just talk. There are eye brow changes and everything. I think he is really trying to tell me about his morning. It is great.
He loves watching his big brother doing anything. It makes nursing when he is in the room a real challenge. The distractions are like WHOA. Landon loves to bring him toys and is excited that he can hold some toys now…though he is worried he is trying to eat them “Oviler, we don’t eat those toys.” Big bro also wants to soothe him. In the mornings I usually come down and put O in the swing so I can feed the dog and fix Landon’s breakfast. When O starts to fuss, L runs to him saying “it’s ok. it’s ok. Everything is ok, Oviler” and hands him a toy. Sadly, this does not soothe him…as much as I wish it would.
The boy loves to stand. His favorite position is holding your thumbs and standing up on your lap. He is also practicing sitting in his bumbo and in our laps while we play in the floor with Landon. Like I talked about in this post, he is a carbon copy of Landon in the regard that he wants to see and do everything bigger than him. Once he can sit, it is going to be a whole new world.
Exciting Events
This past month brought a few activities for Oliver. We headed out to a parade in Cary with Landon’s BFF, Josh and his family. Ollie joined us strapped to Daddy’s chest. It was the only place yet that standing and jiggling was the norm! He then joined us again a few weekends ago to Truck Day at Landon’s daycare in his Daddy carriage again. Note: Daddy has become the usual wearer at the moment. He is still technically too litte to sit straddling us in the Ergo plus he loves to stand. If he stands in it on me, he is in my face. Kevin has the longer torso, so he gets that duty for a bit.
Ollie had his first trip to the River this month! This was a big change to the norm for him. First off, he hasn’t slept in the car for almost 2 months. We don’t usually go far to places and he just stays awake usually. We were worried about what would happen. We went down first thing in the morning like our normal work schedule. He slept about an hour on the way down but was pretty happy. We stopped about 30 minutes out to grab takeout hot dogs and I changed a poopy diaper. He then chilled for another 30 minutes with only a little jiggling needed. Hooray! The trip back wasn’t as lucky but K and I took turns jiggling his seat and he chilled enough. Also found Deadmau5 continuous mix was good at zombiefying him.
He had a great time meeting his family members and even getting outside a little bit when it wasn’t so windy. Like I mentioned above, he did very well sleeping in a new place…all things considered. We just kept with the same routines we always do. He slept in our room but with enough white noise for him and ear plugs for me, everyone was happy. He is also sporting a little snotty nose and scratchy throat it seems so I was more willing to nurse him at night.
Stats
Weight: 14lbs 16.5oz
Height: 24.5 in
Head:16.5 in
All 40% percentile across the board.
Schedules
I thought I would lay out our usual weekday and weekend schedules for everyone. I know one thing people don’t talk about much is daycare vs home schedules (if they exist). I think it could be helpful for a new working mom or even a seasoned mom to know how other babies operate for a reference.
Weekday:
6:45-7:15 -Wakeup(sometimes he is up happy (!) and sometimes I have to wake him)
7:30-7:50 – Drive to work
7:50-8:15 – I nurse him at daycare
9-11 – He usually naps in this time frame. Usually from 1 to 2 hours.
11 – I come to nurse
1 – Bottle (this time varies…they seem to keep him up longer at this stretch. It seems they give him the bottle when he fusses and then puts him down for a long nap.)
4 – I come to pickup and nurse before the ride home.
5-5:30 – Play with the family. Swing, floor play, Ergo, etc.
5:30-6 – If happy, sits in my lap for dinner…if not, cat nap.
6-6:30 – Up with the family to play and nurse.
6:30-7 – Bath, jammies, bottle, bed
12-2 – Nurse and right back in bed
Weekend/Holiday:
6:45-7:45 -Wakeup. It varies. Sometimes he will sleep in pretty well.
8 – Nurse
9-11 – Nap. This may be on the go while we are out.
11 – Nurse
12:30-2 – Nap. Lucky to get an hour.
2 – Nurse
3:30-4:30 – Nap. Lucky to get an hour.
5 – Nurse
5:30-6 – If happy, sits in my lap for dinner…if not, cat nap.
6-6:30 – Up with the family to play and nurse.
6:30-7 – Bath, jammies, bottle, bed
12-2 – Nurse and right back in bed
Start all over! There may be a small nursing around 5:30 sometimes. He wakes up and talks. Most of the time he goes back to bed but occasionally he gets worked up and I give him a little milk to calm back down while we get ready.
We are doing pretty well right here before the hectic times of the holidays. It is nice to have a happy baby and a healthy family. Hooray!
You leave work at 4?!?! Wow. I wish! I’m 9-5:15 and I’m pretty lucky!
Yup. 7 hour work days. I has a lucky
Reading this reminds me that everything will iron itself out when the time is right. He is absolutely adorable!
Thank you
he is adorable. mine just turned 4 months last week and is identical to oliver 🙂 we were down to the 1 time, apres midnight, feeding for a good week or two – BLISS… aaand, skip ahead 3 weeks… i’m not relying heavily on your 4 month/19 week sleep regression post! lol.
ack – should say “NOW” relying on your 4 month/19 weeks sleep regression post.