9 weeks

My baby boy is 9 weeks old! Over 2 months!

This week was a BUSY one. As I mentioned in Kasper's 2 month post, we went to the lactation consultant on Monday. I was having some concerns about his latch as well as some other issues. His latch was getting progressively worse to where he would barely have anything in his mouth while he ate. Along with that, he could lose suction many times in a feeding taking in, I assumed, a bunch of air. Add to that nursing sessions of 5-6 minutes and I figured it was time to see someone before his bad habits got worse. We got to the hospital hungry and Kasper was weighed as a "before" weight. He nursed for 4 minutes then did his usual choking and coughing to indicate he was done. We weighed him again and he was up 3.5 ounces. That's crazy!! The verdict was a forceful let-down on my end. I hadn't even considered this as being part of the problem but after reading some of the symptoms, it fits Kasper almost exactly. In fact, I wonder if some of the symptoms we have been attributing to reflux are actually because of the let-down issue. Since he is drowning in milk for 4 minutes, he fills up his little tummy too fast and gets full before his stomach can expand a little more with a more leisurely feeding. Because of that, he's hungry more often - like every hour and a half sometimes which seems frequent for a 2 month old. He is also SO gassy. We spend around 3/4 am - 5/6 am getting K to get some of that gas out. This article also has some information about oversupply/overactive let-down that was very useful to me and explains foremilk and hindmilk and all that. I was sure that Kasper had a milk allergy or something, but I'm pretty confident that it's not anymore. Since the nighttime feeding was the big problem time, we've changed up the eating routine a bit. I nurse K before bed then he gets a bottle when he wakes up. This way he doesn't get a huge dose of the lactose rich foremilk which is a big cause of the gassiness.




This is the best position for K to get the toots out. (Don't mind the dress)



Maybe a little TMI about breastfeeding, but I hadn't really heard anything about oversupplies/overactive let-downs so I'm assuming others may not either. Things are getting better, which is good.

Back in October, we toured a great day-care center. It's Spanish immersion, cloth diapers, serves organic snacks, etc. We were told that they would have an opening in 6 months (April). I called in early February to ask about paperwork and was told that they don't have a spot for us in April and in fact, they don't know when they'll have space. Insert crazy panic attack here. We didn't know what we were going to do. Rob got to talking to a co-worker about daycare and she said she takes her 2 boys to an in-home place that she loves and that the lady had an opening for an infant. We went to visit on Tuesday night. The lady seems very nice and competent so we'll send the boy there. The bad part? It's way over in Inver Grove Heights. Basically totally out of the way of my commute and a ways out of the way of Rob's. Rob will be doing both drop-offs and pick-ups most of the time (I'm kind of glad about this. I'd be afraid I would pull up to the house then pull away and run home with my baby.) Another bad part? She doesn't have an opening until May, so I have to take another 4 weeks of leave unpaid. On the upside, I have another 4 weeks with my sweet baby and he will be another 4 weeks older when we send him out into the world. Ok, enough about that. It hurts my heart too bad to think about it.

How am I going to send him off?


Wednesday was baby class. Kasper was the sleepy baby again. According to that scale, he hadn't gained any weight this past week. I don't know how that can be.

On Thursday I met a couple of my co-workers - Christine and Elizabeth - for lunch. It was fun and Kasper was a good baby! He has been in a good mood this week which has been nice! He was very grumpy last weekend!

I already chronicled my birthday on Friday here. That was so wonderful. I had such a great day with my girlfriends and little one.

We started a new bedtime routine this week which kicks off with a bubble bath in the kitchen sink. Behold the cuteness...

Day 1 - Unsure






Day 2 - Not so bad!







Day 3 and every day since - Mom adds too many bubbles










So far, we have spent the weekend recharging our batteries as we have really been on the move lately. We cherish the weekends when we can be together. I know Kasper enjoys spending time with his Papa. I have been going to a spin class on Sundays which has been fabulous! I get to get in a good workout while my boys bond.




Other photos from the weekend:

Grandma Sandra stopped by for a visit


Clowning around with Papa






Rob doesn't know what's happening yet...


Now he does



Good (clean) fun with Mama








Another long one. I guess that's the way it's going to be.

Week 9 - eating too fast gives babies gas, daycare will come too soon and K loves playing with his parents.