6 Weeks Old

Now that I've gotten the birth story out of the way, I can blog on more current events. Motherhood has been quite a ride but it has been lots of fun getting to know Noah and watching him grow from a scrawny little baby to a chubby eating machine!

Noah is now 6 weeks old, and according to many people/books, this is the time when crying/fussiness peaks in infants. Whether or not this is a peak, with crying/fussiness declining here on out, I'm not sure, but it certainly has increased in the past week! It was almost like in week 6 the fussiness switch turned on. In week 5, I started putting Noah on a feeding/sleeping routine from The Contented Little Baby by Gina Ford because he was being so fussy at night and I felt that I wasn't doing a good enough job monitoring his sleep. From day one of starting the routine, Noah was settled down easily for all his naps (although he was still having a hard time at night) without needing any soothing strategies. I would put him down for a nap and watch in the baby monitor as he magically just fell right asleep at the times prescribed by Gina Ford. It was a little more difficult getting him to wake up, but when he was awake he was alert and relatively calm. In week 6 however, it became much more difficult to settle him for naps, resulting an overtired and unhappy baby. When I did manage to settle him and he fell asleep, he would make a noise and wake himself up and the process would start again. Some times he'll randomly start screaming, too. Also because we live on a busy road between a hospital and fire station, there are always ambulances and fire trucks going up and down the road with sirens blaring; not helpful. The only improvements in week 6 have been a little less spit up and more sleeping at night. Before, Noah would fuss a lot after feedings at night and take a long time to go back to sleep, but in the past few days he's fallen asleep more easily. He flails around for a few seconds, then goes limp and falls asleep. Overall, adapting Gina Ford's routine has made life much more predictable and structured. And is it wrong that I see adapting Noah to the routines as "goals" to work towards? But really, once I started using her schedule, I was much more attuned to Noah's sleeping and eating patterns and have become better about making sure Noah does not get overtired. Knowing when (roughly) Noah will be sleeping, eating, and bathing also allows me to schedule my own sleeping, eating, and bathing! My next goal: cutting nighttime feedings down to just once...