Claire @ 2 & 3 Months

 

 

 

Somehow month two got away from me--Claire is three and a half months old! I am going to go ahead and write about both months two and three of Claire's life in this post (and will try not to get too behind again because this is a ginormous post).

To sum it up, month two was a breeze (mostly) and month three + has been harder. She decided around 8 weeks that she didn't like to eat or sleep anymore. So sad and frustrating! We have now learned that she has a most likely has a cow's milk allergy (and possibly other allergies)--more on that below.

Weight: Claire's weight gain had slowed down quite a bit when we went in for her 8 week appointment, but she had grown a lot taller! Her stats at 8 weeks, 3 days were 12.02 lbs. (70th%), 23 1/2 inches (91st%). At 11 weeks old, we think she was about 12 1/2 lbs. And at 3 1/2 months, we think she's about 15-16 lbs. Chubby wubby! (We just weigh her with us on the bathroom scale, so it's kind of a rough estimate.) She is starting to fit into 6-9 month clothing, mostly because she is so tall! We love our chubby, cute girl!

Eating: Month two of eating went fine--I was still super sore, but after using a nipple shield for a week or so, I felt like things were finally looking up. Then, right around her 8 week appointment, Claire started having trouble eating. She would eat for maybe three-five minutes and then start squirming around like crazy. I would stop to burp her and then she wouldn't start eating again no matter how hard I tried. It was SO frustrating! We took her back to the doctor at 9 weeks, and he thought she might have silent reflux (pretty much reflux--stomach acid burning her throat minus all the spitting up). We tried her on a liquid form of Zantac for about a week but didn't notice much of a difference.

Our latest theory is that she has an allergy to cow's milk and possibly some other things. Around 9 weeks, we tried giving her formula for the first time (just an ounce mixed in with breast milk), and she threw up several times (big throw-ups, not baby spit-ups) about two hours later. We thought she had probably gotten sick from the formula but weren't sure. A week later, we tried the same thing, but this time with sensitive formula--same reaction. About two hours later, she woke up crying and then threw up a lot and then again about a half hour later. It was so sad! We were just hoping to have the option of giving her formula, but I will just keep breastfeeding/pumping and feeding her breast-milk for now.

Since then, I have gone off of all dairy, soy, nuts, and fish due to streaks of blood that starting showing up in her stools. If I am really careful with this diet, there isn't any blood, and she eats just fine. The diet is a little frustrating but working for now. The alternative is to give her a hypoallergenic formula, which supposedly tastes and smells nasty (not to mention it's super expensive), so we're keeping that as a last resort. She is obviously gaining weight just fine, so we're not too worried! She should outgrow the allergies/sensitivities sometime before she's a year old.

Sleeping: Sleep? What is that? ;) ...Sleep has also taken a turn for the worse the last couple of months. Claire went from sleeping 8 hours at night to getting up 5-6 times a night and hardly ever taking a nap longer than 30 minutes. The nap thing is so strange. She literally wakes up exactly 30 minutes after she goes down every. single. time. (unless I hold her and sleep with her for the whole nap, then she'll sleep from 1 1/2-2 hours. I think part of the sleep issue is that we were guilted/scared into not letting her sleep on her tummy anymore at her 8 week appointment. Sleep has gone downhill from here. That, combined with her tummy issues have made for some pretty sleepless weeks. We are hopeful that once things wind down over the next few weeks and we can get back into a good routine, she will start sleeping better.

New Skills:

• She has gotten really good at tummy time over the past 6-8 weeks. She lasts much longer, happily, on her tummy playing with toys and looking around. 
• She found her hands around 6-8 weeks and is obsessed with putting them in her mouth. She drools buckets. :/
• She started grabbing toys around 13-14 weeks and gets better every week. She puts everything right in her mouth and gnaws on it like crazy.
• She also started laughing around 13-14 weeks. So far, we haven't been able to make her belly laugh (however, she will always giggle pretty easily) on demand, but she has found a few things funny that have got her going on her own: going over speed bumps in the car, me eating chips while she was in the bjorn carrier, and me loading laundry into the washing machine while she was in the bjorn carrier. Her little laugh is the best thing ever! Hope it keeps coming out more and more. 
• Claire started rolling over from her tummy to her back right around 14 weeks. When she does it, she acts like it's not big deal--just kind of flops from her tummy to her side and then onto her back. But, at the same time, she doesn't usually remember that she can do this and will get fussy when left on her tummy for too long. 
• After practicing and trying SO hard for about a month, she started rolling from her back to her tummy on our trip in Boise at 16 weeks. She seems to do this much more purposefully than rolling tummy to back and seems so proud when she makes it over and gets her arms out from under her. 

Other Fun Facts About Claire:

• Her legs are really strong, and she loves to stand up. You can hold her hands and just help her balance a little, and she will stand for a long time. 
• She is starting to have a little "stranger danger" and will stick out her bottom lip if she gets nervous, particularly if we walk into a new place with lots of new people.
• She lights up whenever she sees her dad and just stares at him so intently while he talks.
• Everyone comments on how serious her face always is, with her very serious, expressive eyebrows. She is so intent on looking at everyone and everything around her and does look pretty serious much of the time, but she also gives out smiles to just about everyone pretty easily.
• She still hates riding in the car. She will last a little while if she has toys to hold or someone sitting by her to talk to her, but when she loses it, she screams like there's no tomorrow.