7 weeks is the new 6 weeks

Okay, I know I shouldn't be blogging about this because I'll only jinx it, but Elias has had a really great few days. Everyone talks about the first six weeks being the hardest, and maybe what they mean is the difficulty peaks at six weeks and then starts to get easier from then on, because I feel like we've started to turn a corner as we approach the 7 week mark today. The spitting up has continued to improve over the past week, we've experienced very little fussiness during the past three evenings, and last night we enjoyed another six-hour stretch of sleep. Well, six hours between feedings, which translates to a good five hours of sleep for Mom and Dad. And, it was the first night all week that Elias has gone right back to sleep after his middle-of-the-night feeding. Wow. I can't tell you how refreshed I'm feeling this morning, especially considering I've been battling a sinusy head cold over the past few days. Being a sick mama is no fun.

On the topic of spitting up, our pediatrician last week recommended we stay on the Zantac for now. Hopefully if things continue to improve we can think about weaning him off in another couple of months. I'd prefer he not stay on it into toddlerhood as seems to be the case with so many infants treated for reflux. And it's hard to know if the slight improvement is a result of the drugs or other measures we've taken over the past couple of weeks. In addition to some changes in feeding strategies, I think we've gotten a lot better about burping him. And realizing he's just a "windy" baby, we've also been administering gas drops after meals, which have made a big difference during that second stretch of night sleep in particular. There were a few nights last week where I swear he grunted every 15 minutes for the entire three hours or so between his night feeding and waking up for the day. And finally, in case he has an allergy to the protein in cow's milk, which shares many symptoms with reflux and is apparently pretty common, I've stopped eating obvious dairy products. I don't mind it too much, except for the fact that Neal had just brought home a carton of Haagen Dazs' new Fleur de Sel Caramel ice cream when I decided to change my diet. I'd tried cutting out dairy for a day or two a week before but apparently it can take up to three weeks to see any improvement, since it takes a week to ten days for the protein to get out of Mom's system, and another week to ten days to be completely out of baby's system.

When we're not spending the two or three hours between feedings dealing with spit-up, Elias and I have enjoyed regular boppy pillow time, during which we smile and coo at each other for a good half-hour stretch several times a day. Here's video from this morning.



Some of the fussiness seems to have been replaced by simply chilling out, whether it be on the boppy or being carried around, taking it all in. Here he is looking at an Andy Warhol print we have in the living room, the only thing to distract him from the mesmerizing flicker of the forbidden television screen.


Otherwise, most of the pics I took this week are of Elias in various ridiculously cute outfits, now that he's finally fitting into most of his 0-3 month wardrobe, like this one:


It's true.

These are some pretty snappy pj's he wore to my mom's group on Thursday, since it was a little chilly that day and we have very little non-summer clothing that he actually fits into that wasn't dirty at the time (turns out he's not a big fan of pants that I could have just thrown over a simple onesie):


He's a little fussy in the picture but he had a great time during the group meeting (more about that in another post). And finally, here's an outfit he hadn't worn that I realized he probably won't fit into much longer (he's also sporting quite the double chin in this particular pose).


So many cute outfits, so little time spent in the 0-3 month range!