William’s Week 7 Schedule & Update

Week 7 Babywise Schedule

Feedings occur every 3 hours at 6 am, 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm

Wake times are now consistently 1 hour!

As a result, naps start right at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, and then bed right after the 9 pm feeding. I then wake him for feedings at the above feeding schedule times, if he’s not already waking.

Eating

Breastfeeding is going great. He’s doing well, and able to eat at the scheduled times only. He gets full feeds and eats on both sides each sitting.

The only issue is some painful moments for me…

In my last update I talked about how he was pulling off super fast and scraping my nipple in the process. Then he’d try to suck it back in really fast without opening his mouth and latching properly.

OUCH.

This is still continuing.

I have no idea when he’s going to pull off, or how to prevent it. So, I’m sitting there terrified the whole time LOL!

Once he pulls off, I cover myself up immediately so he can’t suck my nipple back in. I then make him latch properly.

No idea what to do about the pulling off, but I’m hoping it’s just a phase.

The other thing is that he seems to latch oddly on the left side only. After awhile of him eating on the left side, it starts to hurt.

His latch seems fine. His bottom lip is down and mouth open well, etc. I have no idea why, but it feels like a shallow latch, even though it looks fine.

My nipple isn’t raw, or cracked, or having any physical response other than pain in the moment.

So, it’s probably no big deal, and again I’m hoping it will get better over time.

I think he’s just in a weird phase where he’s eating fast and very distracted.

Reflux meds update:

William is now on Zantac. With his weight, his dose is 0.8 mL three times per day. We give it to him at 6 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm.

With Caroline, I remember that she wouldn’t take it unless it was cold. So, we keep it in the refrigerator.

I then measure the dose with a syringe, and put the medicine in a bottle nipple. He sucks it right down.

Is it helping? Well it’s hard to assess that really. I think so. It seemed to help immediately, really.

Day one, he was sleeping better and longer.

Now he’s been a bit extra fussy this week…but I actually think the new issue is gas and not reflux.

He seems to be spitting up MORE… but spitting up was never the problem. It was silent reflux that came up and went back down and continued.

It’s almost like the Zantac is helping him just get it up and be done!

Wake Time

Wake time is so much fun right now. After finishing his first leap (wonder week 5), he’s awake longer and more alert.

His wake time is now consistently 1 hour.

Prior to this week, he’d have an hour in the mornings, but by evening he couldn’t handle much without yawning. Then he’d have his witching hour and be up super long around bedtime.

Now, his wake time is consistent throughout the day.

He’s very interested in everything. He’s looking around, he’s grabbing at things, and swatting at toys. He’s listening to us so much more, and even doing some good baby talking.

Since he’s so interested in things, we got the playmat out this week for some playtime. He’s loving looking at it!

Diapering:

Cloth Diapers are out this week! We use Bum Genius 4.0 cloth diapers. Now that he’s close to 10 pounds they are fitting him pretty well.

At night I still put him in a disposable. I am planning on switching him to cloth at night, only once he’s consistently waking only one time.

We’ve had a few small issues with the diapers-

1. Figuring out our new washing machine with the cloth diapers has been interesting. It’s a top loading washer, so the settings I used with my front loader that we previously had are all different.
2. The tags on a couple of the diapers are pulling wetness out! Since the tags are on the outside of the diaper, that then gets his clothing wet! Not sure if he’s over-wetting, and so the wetness is finding this weak spot in the diaper, or if it’s a diaper issue. I never saw this with Caroline, though, so I’m wondering if he’s just a heavy wetter in comparison.
3. Two diapers have leaked right through the PUL (this is the outer part of the diaper that prevents wetness from getting to the clothes). I’ve read that drying them on high heat can reseal the diapers. Hoping this is an easy fix!

Other than that, most of the diapers are working great. Even with a few gaps around the legs on some of the older diapers, they are holding it all in!

Naps

William is now doing great with naps. He naps right on time and sleeps through to the next feeding.

Nap routine:

After one hour of wake time, I take him up to his room.

I close the curtains, turn off the lights, and place him in his zipadee-zip that is in his crib.

I then pick him back up, turn the sound machine on and hold him for a moment.

I lay him down awake in his crib and on his back.

I leave the room.

If he fusses, I come in and place my hand on his chest and “shhhh”.

If that doesn’t work, I pick him up and put him back down once he’s calm.

If I have to enter again, I pick him up to settle him, and then put him on his belly. I pat his back and get him drowsy while he’s laying in the crib.

I leave.

If he’s fussy again, I give him the pacifier. I wait to do this as a last resort. I do give it to him, though, so he doesn’t get overtired. I’d rather him use the pacifier and get to sleep, than not use it and be overtired and not get a good nap.

Since starting the reflux meds, his naps have happened easier and have lengthened.

This might also be due to the fact that I place him on his belly, however.

If he wakes early from a nap, I immediately give him the pacifier to keep him asleep and well rested.

Nighttime Sleep

William is doing more and more long stretches with 1 wake in the middle of the night.

I wanted to wait until his 6 week growth spurt was over, and he was on his reflux meds before starting to really challenge him at night to drop to one feeding.

Since he’s capable of doing one middle of the night feeding, however, I want to encourage this and challenge him to do so if he can.

How we are trying to drop a feeding at night:

1. I am no longer changing his diaper at night. This is keeping him sleepy and helping him to not need a full feed.
2. I am encouraging smaller feedings. He hates a break in routine, so I have to feed him on both sides to keep him happy, but I am stopping him after 5 minutes on one side. We then switch to the other, and I again stop him after 5 minutes.
3. I am not worrying about getting burps out. I hate this because it can backfire on me, but if I do the things I need to do to get a burp out of him, he wakes up. So, if he’s sleepy, I let him stay sleepy. I do a couple of light pats, but don’t force it.
4. I am stalling him.
   • If it’s been less than three hours I DO NOT FEED him. I stall him until 3 hours. I’ve never had to feed him prior to 3 hours, so I know he can make it that long. I’ve always been able to get him back to sleep.
   • If it’s only been 3 hours, I still try to stall him. If he’s hungry, he’ll wake back up soon. But if I can get him to sleep and encourage longer stretches, this is a huge win.
   • Usually, I can easily stall him with a pacifier or putting him on his belly for a short time.

By encouraging longer stretches, and keeping him sleepy with smaller feeds, he’ll learn to no longer need the middle of the night feeding.

He’s doing great with it so far. He’s had many more nights with one feed lately!

Getting him to sleep at bedtime

This is a challenge lately. He wakes at 9 pm, and I then feed him, and put him to bed.

He’s fussy, and super mad at us!

This results in him being awake for hours. Sometimes until close to midnight.

He is not tired. Next week, I’m planning on starting a bedtime routine, that will help give him quiet time, but also allow him wake time.

He seems to really need it, and what we’re doing isn’t working for anyone.

Next week I’ll be trying to read him a story, and maybe have quiet floor time with him before putting him down.

Life With Two

This week was relatively easy to be honest. Next week I won’t be saying that I’m sure.

Grandparents were still here this week, so Caroline was very much entertained and I wasn’t having to do much with regards to her.

Her behavior was great, and she was busy playing. I wasn’t doing much with her and missed her, really.

That left me the time to just focus on William and myself, however. I got some rest in as well.

My husband was off of work this weekend, and I napped! It was lovely!

New This Week

Week 7 Baby Products We Love:

Playmat– we are now getting a lot of use out of the playmat!

Zantac– William started Zantac for reflux.

Gas Drops– We are giving him gas drops to help him. He seems to be in pain, and after awhile of it, he gets out a good burp. So, hopefully the gas drops will help.

Cloth Diapers– We are using Bum Genius 4.0, with charcoal bamboo diaper inserts, and have the cloth wipes out as well. We use a nail polish remover pump filled with water to get the wipes wet. And we have 3 wet bags that we circulate for laundry.

I am still using disposables at night and have disposable in the diaper bag just in case we need them.

Our cloth diaper faves:

Nursing shirt- I also forgot to mention in weeks past, my favorite nursing item! I found an amazing undershirt to wear. Buy this undershirt at amazon.

It goes below your bra in the front, so the only clips you have to deal with are your bra clips… then just lift your shirt up and this undershirt keeps your belly covered.

It’s so nice. I wear it daily and should probably get another…