From 6 weeks to 2 months we have seen a truly astounding amount of development in Sonia!
Physical growth: Call me a crazy data fiend, but I bought a baby scale that I keep by the chair I feed Sonia in so I can weigh her before and after each feeding to know how much she’s getting, and to track her day-to-day growth more closely. We did sort of experience the infamous 6 week growth spurt, in that she fed much closer together for a couple days, and afterwards both my supply and her demand were greater, but she still has been gaining at a steady 0.5 lb / week. What that growth spurt did seem to do is lengthen her out and fill her in more such that now at 2 months, 9.5lb (15th percentile) and 21″ (5th percentile), with a 15″ head circumference (50th percentile), she looks and feels more like a baby, rather than a scrunched up fetus.
Schedule: Along with the growth spurt came another change in her daytime routine, or more exactly, the development of one. After the first couple days of feeding every 1.5-2hrs, I almost missed the cue that she wasn’t always hungry at the times she was fussing, sometimes she was just tired. After reading a few articles online, I realized my mistake, and around 7 weeks we got ourselves in an “eat-play-sleep” routine that made Sonia more alert when she was awake, and me more sane in general. Now she wakes up, feeds, is active for about an hour, and then sleeps for an hour to an hour and a half in a reasonably predictable 3 hr cycle. We also started to swaddle her for nap times, which kept her down much better as well. This development has really done wonders for me, in that I can plan my day much better, and its easier to give her my full attention during her alert times because I know there’s an end in sight when she will go to sleep and I will be able to do what I need to do (like work out, shower and clean the house).
Sleep: Over the course of the last 2 weeks, Sonia went from sleeping for a 4-5 hr stretch every once in awhile, to sleeping for a ~6hr stretch almost every night. Once she started doing this regularly at around 7.5 wks, we moved her into her own room, which I think has helped us sleep even though I still have the monitor on, and she seemed to take to it fine as well. When she goes down for her long stretch around 8pm, she doesn’t need any help, but sometimes after her 1-2am or 4am feedings she needs her Wubba and/or some white noise to get to sleep. So far, she hasn’t needed the Wubba replaced when she becomes semi-aroused during her light sleep, but I could see it getting annoying if she does. Now I’m looking forward to the time when she is able to skip her second nighttime feeding with regularity (she has done it a few times), and I am toying with trying the “dream feed” until she gets there so I don’t have to wake up so many times in the early morning hours. However, I don’t really want to ruin a good thing either, so we will see how she progresses.
Body Control: Sonia really has made a lot of progress in getting control over her arms and legs. She now bats at toys with regularity, and has started to grasp objects. Every once in awhile she will even bring them to her mouth. Soon, I’m sure, I’ll be wishing she wouldn’t 🙂 She also really enjoys kicking now, and we recently brought out her Kick-and-Play piano gym for some self-discovery time. Also, even though she hasn’t been able to tolerate much tummy time, she can lift her head and some of her chest off the table when her arms are positioned right, and she has stabilized a lot when we hold her upright to play and look around – which she loves! She even feels like she can stand sometimes! She’s still a bit of a bobble head, with not much fine movement, but the progress is pretty impressive.
Smiles! Of course, who doesn’t love baby smiles, but as a Mom, it really does melt your heart to see them from your baby. Thankfully, Sonia’s are pretty regular now, and a few of them are even given to me instead of just Daddy!
Cooing: Sonia has really amped up the pre-language baby noises in the past week or so, and I *swear* I can hear real words in there! One of her common ones sounds a whole lot like “green,” and the first time she did it was right after I showed her a green diaper I was going to put on her. She also has one that sounds a bit like “Daddy” and is getting a strong “Hi” as well, which is a word we both say to her often (and a pretty easy one for a baby to emulate).
Dr. Visit: At 8 wks, Sonia had her 2 month check-up with Dr. Abramyan. Everything looked really good. This was her first round of immunizations and she got 3 shots and an oral vaccine. It was nice of Dr. A to let us know that the first shot would only really annoy her but the second 2 would be painful, because I have never heard her cry as hard as she did after those shots. They were also smart to give the sweet oral vaccine last to help soothe, and I nursed her right away afterwards which helped as well. After the pain of the initial shot, she didn’t sleep really any more than usual and didn’t spike any fevers. She did complain a little bit in her sleep about 5-6 hrs after the shots, but it didn’t wake her up, so we didn’t end up giving her any Tylenol. Our strong little girl was such a champ!
Other fun Outings: Like usual, Sonia’s gotten around these past couple weeks, going to Praveen’s graduation party, yoga with Mommy and lunches with friends, and it is like a switch flipped right around 7 weeks. I used to not be able to keep her awake during outings, and now she doesn’t seem to want to miss any of the action.
We’re looking forward to the time with family (although not necessarily all the traveling) as well as to all of the new developments the next couple weeks will bring!