Happy, happy 3 month birthday Danny boy! Just like everyone said, 3 months has represented a pivotal shift in Danny, both physically and mentally. It's seriously such a fun age! He exercises his vocal chords by making all kinds of new squeals and coos. He's holding his head pretty steady. He totally smiles in response to me and Jimmy being silly and does this adorable coy smile when he's feeling bashful. He doesn't appear to be getting close to rolling over from tummy to back or doing a mini push-up. I think I need to force him to do more tummy time (see dislikes below). He does, however, act like he's going to roll over from back to tummy, which is something he's not supposed to do until 4-5 months. Maybe he'll also learn to walk before he crawls?? He's definitely swatting at the hanging toys on his activity mat and sucks on his hands. Because he's moving out of the "impossible to spoil" infant stage and into the "smarter than you think" baby stage, the pressure is on to raise a good and easy baby and (gulp) toddler. Wish us luck!
Weight: Approximately 13 lbs
Likes: Cartoons, baths, Rockabye Baby! Michael Jackson, Baby Einstein activity mat, being naked, the taste of his left hand, reading books (for about 1 min)
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WARNING: I may lose you below. I'm documenting what follows as much for me as for any of our readers. Sorry to bore you! I want to be able to recall our experiences for future babies!
Sleeping: Figuring out sleeping has been and continues to be the hardest, most confusing part of taking care of Danny. To explain, I have to talk about napping and nights totally separate of one another.
Nights
It's never really been the nights that are hard. Danny got his days and nights down early, sleeping for 4-7 hour stretches from the beginning. Lately, we had been consistently in the 7 hour range, but then we started nearing the 3 month growth spurt and brain leap and, as a result, regressed to waking up in the middle of the night again. Just in the last couple days, Danny has been going down at 9-10pm and making it until 4-4:30am, which makes me think he's trying to last all night. He then goes back down about 5am and sleeps until 7:30am. Our routine consists of reading a book, taking a bath, (partially) swaddling and then he nurses himself to sleep. Occasionally he wakes up when I lay him down or a couple hours into sleeping, but he usually put himself back to sleep. Success! By 4 months, I will start trying to put him down closer to 8pm and hopefully he'll sleep all night.
Naps
Oh napping, what a pain in my butt. Danny is not a great napper. According to Baby Wise, we should be putting him down for a nap at the end of every feeding cycle, which should be every 3-4 hours. He should be sleeping for 1.5-2 hours each time. Well Danny's feeding cycle is more like every 2.5 hours and he barely lasts 45 mins most naps, though sometimes we get a good one in in the afternoon. This means he has much more awake time than sleeping time. Not sure what gives. I wonder if it's the shorter cycle and me trying to put him down too often that is causing the short catnaps and if I could stretch him to 3-4 hours he might nap for longer. But how do I stretch the feeding cycle without a longer nap? See what I mean? Confusing, right? Our routine consists of reading a book (to try and unwind a little) and then exercising the 5 S's from Happiest Baby on the Block: (partial) swaddle, swinging/shaking, sucking, shushing and sideways. At 3 months old, we're at the end of the "4th trimester", so we shouldn't have to do the 5 S's much longer, but it's all that works at this point, so we're continuing with them for now. Even with the 5 S's "layer cake" though, Danny is still pretty finicky when we put him down for naps. I usually have to vigorously pat his butt and loudly shush once I've laid him down to keep him asleep and even still I stick around for 5 mins or so to shush him back to sleep if he startles himself awake. I've found it's easier to put him back to sleep right away than to let him get worked up. Sometimes he literally sleeps with one eye open to make sure I'm still there as he falls asleep. I'm so afraid that I'm creating a sleeping monster by assisting with sleep so much, but my short attempts at cry-it-out have desperately failed. I think he's just too young. And he soothes himself at night, so we're good there. I've recently added a fan to his room, which adds some great white noise. I've strongly considered getting blackout shades in an attempt to simulate the complete darkness of night but I don't want to add another sleep "prop". I don't know what his problem is. Every time I go in there to lay him down for a nap, the darkness and white noise nearly puts me to sleep every time! In a perfect world, when it's nap time, I can put Danny down wherever we're at and he'll give me a solid 2 hours. A mommy can dream, right?
Eating: Recently, Danny has started getting very distracted during nursing. I think it's the brain leap and his new found interest in all of his surroundings. He has started doing this thing where he (painlessly) releases and stares up at me until I look down at him and then he gives me this huge smile and reattaches himself. He plays this game all throughout our feedings! He also just stops nursing at times and refuses to start again. Considering that other times he feeds for his usual 40 mins, I trust that he's getting enough food. Maybe he's just more proficient? I can't help but feel like not consistently feeding the same lengths doesn't help us stretch his feeding cycles to 3-4 hours though. There is nothing I can do but listen to my instincts and try to not stress about getting on a perfect schedule.
I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule. I will not stress about getting on a perfect schedule.
This is what happens when you attempt to photograph a 3 month old sitting up...
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