Myles Monthly: 4

As you may know, I didn't decide to start my blog until my son Myles was about 8 months old. And well... now he is 14 months old! So I am focusing on getting caught up with monthly updates and monthly favorites, so I can get, and hopefully stay, up to date with current times. 

  November 15th-December 14, 2012

 
Statistics:

Born: 7 lbs 6 oz and 19.5 inches
Four Months: 16.5 pounds and 26 inches

Health:

Even with the finicky eating and occasional puking still going on from last month, Myles continued to pack on the pounds! He gained another pound this month and was right on track with his height! We had a well-check this month and also had to get some vaccines. After what we went through with his first shots, I was very reluctant to get these done again so soon. I thought about breaking them up, but ultimately made the decision to just get them all done and over with at once. Everything seemed fine afterwards; his temperament was totally normal and no fever either. He played the rest of the day and acted like nothing happened. Then around 8pm it started. Out of nowhere, he began crying and would not stop. Nothing helped, not even nursing. He cried and cried and cried for two hours straight! Around 10pm, I wrapped him up in his swaddle blanket and tried rocking and nursing him to sleep. He finally calmed down a bit and I was able to give him a pacifier. (So weird because he stopped taking a pacifier when he stopped taking a bottle). He fell asleep and slept from 10pm to 7am! That was the longest he ever slept through the night. That was glorious! Unfortunately, that was a total tease because it didn't happen again for about another 5 months :( He woke up about 85% better and only was a little fussy throughout the next day. I'm glad he didn't puke or get a fever that time, but it was another bad vaccine experience in my opinion.
  Mark and I got very sick on Thanksgiving (seemed to be like a 24 hour flu), but Myles was not effected at all! So grateful because I would not want to be sick and have to take care of a sick baby as well. Luckily, my parents were able to take Myles for the day, so we wouldn't keep spreading our sick germs all over him. I did breastfeed him while I was sick though. I read about it and mostly everything said that by the time I physically felt sick, the germs would have already been passed to him. So it wouldn't have mattered if I kept feeding him after I realized I was sick. And plus, it helps him build a strong immune system!

He was still teething like crazy; lots of drooling, extra saliva, and spit bubbles! EVERYTHING went in his mouth! Anything he could get his hands on and that would fit into his mouth would go in it! The more mobile he got, the more stuff he would find and be able to get in his mouth. Still no teeth, but lots and lots of chewing.

Eating: This month was probably the toughest in terms of our breastfeeding journey. Our issues from last month continued into this month and some others decided to join in as well. Myles was still doing the daily puking, but I wasn't stressed about it anymore. The doctor said everything was fine with him and the lactation consultant was fairly certain it was because of teething and extra saliva. He also still wasn't eating for very long during each session. But again, he was gaining weight and everything checked out, so I pretty much  stopped worrying about it and just made sure I was offering him often/feeding on demand. 

This month I decided to stop pumping. I just couldn't do it any longer! I was losing my mind over that dumb thing. I put myself under so much stress trying to maintain a stash in the freezer while still feeding throughout the day and night. I would be trying to pump while he was crying to eat. Then I would be cleaning the supplies while he was crying to eat. And if I waited until he was sleeping to pump, I never got anytime to do anything else (as his naps were only 30 minutes long). Plus, I barely got anything when I pumped; at first it would be about 4-5 ounces together per session. It slowly decreased over time to a point where the amount I was getting wasn't worth the effort I had to put into getting it. So one day I just stopped! I went back to strictly breast. Along with that came no more bottle for Myles. Prior to me stopping with the pump, Myles did very well with a bottle. We never had any problems switching back and forth. Myles went about three weeks with no bottle. I was never away from him, so I didn't need to give him one. Then Mark and I got sick on Thanksgiving and my mom took Myles for the day. I still had some milk left in the freezer, so I gave her most of what was left. When I talked to her at the end of the day, he only drank like 5 oz all day long, because he was refusing to drink from the bottle. Because Myles never had a problem with the bottle before, I didn't think he was going to forget how to drink from a bottle. Within 3 weeks time, he completely voided his mind of how to drink from a bottle. My mom said he would play around with the nipple and chew on it; doing this he would get a little milk out of the bottle, but not much at all. This was the beginning of Bottle Strike 2012 for Myles. And so began the impossible road to get Myles to take a bottle again... Spoiler Alert: we were never successful. Over the next 5 months, I tried everything to get him to take a bottle again with no progress to be made. More on this in the months to come :)

Sleep: What can I say about sleep or lack there of really. We definitely experienced the dreaded 4 month sleep regression; although I'm not sure it should have been called a regression when there was never a progression to begin with ;) His naps were still consistent, being 30 minutes long about every 1.5 hours. However night time sleep was a complete disaster. We kept our nighttime routine going (bath, swaddle, nurse, crib), but it did not make any difference in his sleep patterns. On average, he would wake up 8-11 times a night. His first wake up was always 30 minutes after he fell asleep, like he was still in nap mode or something. Then after that his sleep would range anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. The 3 hours sometimes happened after his first wake up, but on average he would wake up every 1.5 hours. Also, it had become increasing difficult to get him back to sleep. I had to be like a ninja warrior, stealth-fully putting him back into his crib after I nursed him back to sleep. I had to place him in the crib ever so slightly as to not wake him as he was laid down. As time went on, the process only got worse. It would sometimes take three tries to get him to stay asleep after I laid him back down. By 7am, I couldn't get up anymore so I would just lay him in bed with me and let him nurse until he was ready to get up, usually around 9am. My back started hurting a lot because of how many times I had to pick him up out of his crib throughout the night. Some nights I put him in the Rock N Play sleeper because I couldn't bend over his crib to pick him up anymore. 
Our night times were so exhausting, both physically and mentally, that I had no energy throughout the day. Even just typing this, I get emotional. I have never been through something so tough in my life. I honestly don't know how I made... seriously. I don't know how my body just didn't give up. I wasn't able to nap during the day with him either because he would only sleep for 30 minutes at a time, which is usually about how long it takes me to fall asleep. I could never get a break either, because he had stopped taking a bottle. He couldn't go anywhere away from me longer than the time between his feedings. My parents did come over and help a lot though, so I am grateful for that.

I was still swaddling him for naps and night time. If I didn't, his arms would be all over and he would wake up even more often than he already did. I tried all sorts of different swaddles because he always got out of them and would wake up from his flailing arms. I called him the Houdini baby because he could get his arms out of all the swaddlers. None of them were strong enough. I fixed one by adding more Velcro, but that didn't always work. Even the swaddle sacks weren't strong enough for this crazy kid :)

Crying: Still crying in the car seat; not all the time, but when he didn't want to be in it, you were going to know about it. Most of the car seat crying happened when it was dark out. 

After he stopped taking a bottle, he would get mad if I tried to feed him one when he was really hungry. I learned to only try the bottle when he wasn't too hungry, because then it he would be calm and in a better mood. If he wanted the breast and he got a bottle, he was not a happy camper.

 Outings

• As I mentioned above, Mark and I got really sick the night before Thanksgiving. I really don't know where it came from, but it was a rough one. I started feeling nauseous midday, but I didn't think much of it. It didn't seem to be getting any worse, so I ate dinner thinking all was fine. Immediately after eating, my stomach was in so much pain, I had to throw up. Once my stomach was empty, I felt better, but I didn't dare eat anything. Mark also wasn't able to keep anything down. I somehow made it through the night,  but I felt way worse when I woke up. I was really weak and could barely pick Myles up. I felt like there was no way I could take care of him all day when I couldn't even stand up myself. I called my mom right when we woke up. I was crying because I didn't want to miss my first Thanksgiving with Myles, but I knew there was no way I was going to make it. Of course, my wonderful mother offered to come get him and watch him for the day. 
• So we packed him up and shipped him off to celebrate his first Thanksgiving with his grandparents, while Mark and I wasted away to nothing. Myles had a great time playing dress up, bouncing around, and getting a bath from grandma in the sink! I pretty much laid around and puked all day. Mark went to the store and bought us the most random Thanksgiving Dinner ever. I kept a couple bites down and eventually started to feel better by the end of the night. 
• My mom offered to keep Myles over night, but he had only ate like 5 oz of milk all day long because he was refusing the bottle. I didn't want to starve him so I had her bring him back and she stayed the night with us. She helped me put him to bed and watched him in the morning again for a while. It seemed like he knew I was sick because that night he slept the longest he ever had; about 7 hours. (Then after that night, he went back to waking up all night long again.)
• Being sick with a baby takes being sick to a whole new level! Luckily, he didn't get sick. I thought for sure he would because I continued to breastfeed him the whole time, but it didn't even phase him. Thank God for that.. Being sick with a sick baby.. I don't even want to know!

• Myles got all sorts of loving when we went to my cousin's son's birthday party (I don't know what they are to each other... second cousins.. does anyone know that stuff?!?) He stole the show, as usual. Everybody wanted a piece of the stud-muffin. He even fell asleep on my aunt's chest.

• Myles FINALLY got his first professional pictures done this month. I don't know why I waited so long to get them done. I wanted them to include family pictures, but I wasn't feeling up to getting my pictures taken yet, so I just got his done. I wish I would have had newborn ones done; even now I almost forget how little he was and what he looked like. *Hashtag BadMommy* I can't wait to get more done, they turned out so great. Check them out here, if you missed them!

Here is a little pre-photo session at our house: LOVE his gummy smiles! 

Milestones

Playing on playmat:This month Myles started playing with the toys on his playmat. He would lay on his back and bat at the hanging toys and try to grab them. If in the right mood, he would play for 10-15 minutes under his mat.

Holding a toy: This month Myles picked up and held a toy for the first time. I had his fish rattle laying next to him in his Rock 'N Play. It was right by his hand; he grabbed it and brought it up to his mouth. Once he figured that out, he started putting EVERYTHING in his mouth... well anything that was around him that he could pick up, that is! 

Chewing on his other favorite rattle

Making bubbles: Because of teething, Myles started having lots of saliva in his mouth. It caused lots of trouble with his eating, but he also picked up a habit of making spit bubbles! 
My little chubbers :)

Likes

• This month was all about teething! Anything he could get into his mouth, went there and stayed as long as I would let it! Since he was now able to pick up toys and such, he could put all sorts of stuff in his mouth to chew on. His hands still remained his number one choice though. But he would be happy with just about anything as long as it would fit in there. His also started sucking on his lower lip; I'm guessing that must have helped with his teething too.

• He started to show some excitement and interest towards things. It was very clear that he began to be peaked by certain things over others. He preferred specific toys and characters over others. At this point, Mickey Mouse was the leader of the pack! He would get really happy whenever he saw Mickey in a book or on TV. I think it is his high pitch voice that reeled him in :)

• He loved getting crazy in the bath tub! He would start kicking and splashing and get all riled up. As you can see in the picture, I would put his favorite fish toy on the end of the bath and then he would kick his feet and make the fish fall in the water. He loved that fish sooo much! It always made him happy in the tub. As you can also see, he would get so crazy in the tub that he would end up sideways. He did this all the time! Pretty much the whole time he was in the bath, I would have to constantly be moving him back straight, so he would actually be in the water. Otherwise, he would move around so much that he would get stuck halfway out of the tub!

• His love for the jumperoo continued into this month! (He pretty much was the happiest in his jumperoo until he was able to crawl at 6 months.) I stopped having to put the pillow on the floor because he could reach now! His legs got an awesome work out everyday in that thing!

Dislikes

• Myles' dislike of the car seat reached its pinnacle this month. Very rarely did he stay calm when he had to be in his car seat; only right away in the morning or if he was sooo tired that he would fall asleep. I learned that trying to take him out when it was dark was great way to put me in an anxiety ridden panic attack! He hated being stuck in his seat when it was night time. There may have been a few times I had a total break down from trying to get somewhere with Myles by myself as he was literally putting himself into a crazed, crying frenzy. One time on the way home from my parents house, he was screaming the whole way. I found myself getting frustrated because I didn't understand why he was so upset and I couldn't do anything about it being that we were in the car. When I got home, I saw that he got himself so worked up that he threw up ALL over! He, along with his car seat and blanket, were soaked in breast milk vomit. I felt so bad. Needless to say, night time car rides were limited to very, very special occasions or extreme circumstances. 

• As I talked about above under eating, Myles stopped taking a bottle. When I tried to start feeding him from a bottle again (after taking about a three week break), he wanted nothing to do with it. Whether he just didn't want it anymore or he unlearned how to eat from it, the bottle was now a foreign object to Myles. He would not take milk from it and when I or anyone tried, he would either just play around with it (chew on it, push it out, etc.) or get upset (if he was really hungry). 

• Depending on his mood, sometimes bath time was a dislike for Myles. About 2 times a week, he just did not want his bath. Since he started teething hardcore, I would get his washcloth wet and hold it in his mouth for him to chew on. I think sometimes it would bring his attention to the fact that his teeth were hurting, so he would get really upset and just want to get out of the tub. I would try to get him to play around and splash, but once he was upset there was no making him happy again. On those nights, bath time ended early :)

And to end, a couple random shots from Myles' 4th month!

Laundry baby :)

 

Come back to check out my favorites from months three & four!