Jude - Week 2

The second week with our boy went smoothly for the most part, with some exceptions. He's eating really well, somewhere between 7-9 times a day, but he's not really on any predictable schedule yet. We're trying to follow the "Baby Whisperer" Eat-Activity-Sleep program, which means that he basically decides how often he needs to eat (although we won't typically feed him if it's been less than two hours, unless he's very obviously hungry). His pattern seems to be that as long as he has a good feeding late at night, he'll go for a good stretch (3-5 hours) before he needs to eat again, then he'll eat for almost an hour, then go back to sleep for another long stretch. He'll have a couple of feedings through the morning, then have another long sleep stretch in the afternoon sometime (although rarely at the same time each day), then want to eat every 2 hours through the early and late evening. We're pretty happy with this, since it gives us a good amount of sleep at night and the opportunity for me to take a nap in the afternoon.

Jude is a very sleepy eater, and if I don't pay attention to him while he's eating, he'll quickly fall asleep and then stop eating. This was the cause of our one really bad night with him this week. We got home from a somewhat late evening out, and I was exhausted so I decided to do his late-night feeding lying on the couch. I fell asleep, he fell asleep, then he woke up an hour later wanting to eat. I tried to feed him again lying down, and the same thing happened again. After a few more rounds of this (with E Ben trying to figure out if there could possibly be anything else that he was upset about besides hunger) we decided to bite the bullet and sit up to make sure he got a proper meal. After that, he slept for his usual long stretch. Lesson learned.

Jude tends to have a fussy period in the evening on most days. E Ben has taken to wearing him in the sling during this time. This is usually enough to quiet him down, although sometimes he does need to leave the house and walk up the street before he really gives up. Thanks Jamey and Erica for giving us the sling - Jude loves it!

From Jude, September 2008

We made a trip to the coast this week so that Jude could visit his Great-Grandma Miller. She made lunch for us, then held the baby while E Ben took a nap on the floor (this was the day after our rough night).

From Jude, September 2008

We also took a walk on the beach so that Jude could see the ocean for the first time. He didn't get much out of the experience since he was asleep the whole time.

From Jude, September 2008

Right after Jude was born, we thought we'd end up continuing to call him "Jeep" (that was his in-utero name). But now that we've gotten to know him and his sweet personality, we find ourselves calling him "Little Bird". He's just not enough of a force these days to be a Jeep.

From Jude, September 2008