Heads up, friends, I’m changing baby 2’s nickname from KD to KK. KJ calls him KK all day long, so I couldn’t think of a better nickname to use when writing on the blog! With that, here is KK’s 2-month update and my postpartum update! If you don’t love the baby posts feel free to skip this one!
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding seems to be going well (*knock on wood*). We went for a weight check at 6 weeks which looked good, so I stopped pumping around the clock. By week 7, I was only pumping after all the night feeds. As KK has been sleeping longer and dropping a night feed, I’ve been waking up to pump around midnight. I also pump before I go to bed and after the first-morning feed. KK still nurses about every 1.5-2.5 hours during the day, but his sessions have dropped in time to 15-20 minutes max. His weight gain was steady at his 2-month appointment, so hurray for that!
Unfortunately, around week 6, history began to repeat itself as we started to see blood in the stool, green colors, and lots of mucus in his diaper. I immediately removed dairy and eggs, which definitely shifted the stool to look much more normal (mustard yellow, no mucus, creamy texture.) The CRAZY thing was how fast his skin cleared up. All summer, we’d been struggling with breakouts all over his face and eczema/heat rash all over his body. Within 48 hours of removing eggs and dairy, it was almost gone. Everyone noticed it. The doctor said babies “get rashy” in the summer, so I never thought about it related to my food intake.
Overall the issue seems less pronounced than KJ’s, mostly because his weight gain, mood, and sleep are not affected. So, I won’t be throwing all my hard-earned pumped milk away, which is what I was most worried about! Given the lack of other issues surrounding his sensitivities and the fact that I’m not on a full-on elimination diet, I’m much less stressed this time. I was hoping it didn’t happen but also kind of assuming it would, and I already have all my favorite dairy-free brands and meals to switch back to, so it’s all good.
Sleep
His stretches of sleep at night continue to amaze me. He sleeps in the halo bassinet with the newborn insert right in which he had a few weeks where KK’s stretches were anywhere between 4-7 hours, always keeping me guessing. The last few days, it’s been more like 7-9 hours which would be amazing if I wasn’t smack dab in the middle of a toddler sleep regression. We’re basically having to “re sleep train” KJ all over again, and we had to drop his nap, so it’s been really fun times over here. We’re using a program by Littlezsleep. Since TCB doesn’t go over two years, I’ll update how it goes. I also bought her newborn program, but, despite trying some of her methods, KK still nurses to sleep most of the time.
I’m working on putting him down awake or rocking him to sleep instead of feeding, but in the midst of very low sleep due to KJ, I’m happy I can nurse him down, and he will sleep longer stretches. Also, I don’t put as much stock into the falling asleep on their own thing because KJ was great at that but then would wake up all night long.
That being said, I’m still trying when I can to break the feed to sleep association, but I remember with KJ eventually that stopped working anyways naturally. He started waking up when he transferred, so I had to move away from it. The biggest thing is KK is lukewarm with the paci; AT BEST, mostly he spits it out, SOOOOO that makes it a bit more challenging than KJ, where you could play the paci pop game (which we played all night.)
Mama’s Recovery
Physically this recovery has been so so so so much harder than with KJ, but, thankfully I’ve been able to start working out and doing some treadmill (walking) workouts. I don’t quite have the desire to run yet, I think I went back to running way too fast after KJ, but I’m getting some good workouts following the Expecting and Empowered postpartum guide (use code hungryhobby10 for a discount). I have to modify less and less, which is great! Thanks to Dr. K at Trimotus for helping put me back together. Weekly adjustments, rehab exercises, and dry needling really helped the SI Joint/tailbone pain I was experiencing while walking.
Working out or really just movement, in general, has been a HUGE game-changer in terms of how I feel about my body. (Funny when I looked back at my PP updates with KJ I had written the EXACT same thing.) I’m so much less focused on weight loss as my primary goal now and more about just feeling more like me. I always forget what a huge mood lift and confidence boost I get from a good workout until I can’t work out. Save for a few injuries and pregnancy/childbirth. I’ve worked out consistency for 13 years now, so for me, working out makes me feel more like me. Finding the time is a challenge these days, especially since KJ dropped his nap, but one way or another, I’ve made it work, day by day.
Kaiden’s Development
For now, KK doesn’t despise tummy time or the car seat near as much as his brother did. In fact, he doesn’t seem to mind tummy time at all. We’re planning a trip to San Diego soon, so we will see how the car seat relationship plays out. And while KJ spit up All. The. Time, Kaiden really spits up probably half as much. Don’t worry, I’m still covered in spit-up most of the time, though, because lord knows I can never remember to grab a burp cloth. Spit up just doesn’t bother me, I mean the milk came from my body anyways. Hahahhahaha
KK has a limited relationship with the swing, but he LOVES the activity playmat. He also seems to enjoy the bouncer with the toy set attached to it. And, of course, he floats around in the pool with us, happy to watch his big brother jump and swim around. (KJ finished ISR lessons a couple of weeks ago!)
He’s 95th percentile for height, 50th percentile for weight, and 50th percentile for head circumference. He’s thriving and I couldn’t be happier!
New Family Dynamics
Someone told me it takes about 8 weeks for your new family dynamic to adjust. AKA for the youngest kid above the baby to start feeling more comfortable. KJ loves babies and loves to see the baby do new things, like bat at toys on his playmat. He doesn’t quite understand the concept of “big brother” yet, and while his verbal skills have totally caught up (he was in speech therapy for 4 months), he still is only 2 years old and doesn’t always have the capacity to explain or verbalize his emotions. Of course, lack of sleep these past few weeks didn’t help either. Luckily, as the baby only nurses 15-20 minutes at a time now (versus 45 minutes of the early days), he doesn’t need to entertain himself for so long.
Also, I’ve been easing back into work which means I’ve had some help around the house and will get more help as soon as I hire a nanny. (PS Finding a sitter for two kids seems infinitely harder than finding for one, especially when looking for someone with infant experience who can adequately handle as well as me or preferably better than me the combo of a baby and toddler.)
That’s it for now!
-Loving this month:
- This playmat
- HATCH sound machine – loud enough to drown out toddler noise
- Portable sound machine
- Swing
- Halo Bassinet and newborn insert
- Bouncer with toy attached
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