1.29.2009

Last night, Emma was feeding G and I finally got a picture of him doing this:



He usually does this when he gets really hungry. After he tries to eat his hands because he is so ravenously hungry. Life is so hard for this baby. ;)

Yesterday was... lots of crying, lots of eating and a little bit of gas made most of yesterday pretty frustrating. He ate so much before 2pm that I actually called the pediatrician to see if there is anything I can do to keep him full. They are concerned about the amount he's getting (seriously, he eats a LOT) so I am pumping, measuring and recording every ounce of breast milk or formula that I am giving him and burping him extra long and hard to make sure it's not just gas. He did pretty well for the rest of the afternoon/evening and then got pretty fussy again at 4am. Paul got up to help me and we were up until he had to get ready and leave for school. Gray is just so hungry at certain times during the day that almost nothing will satisfy him. Sometimes it takes a 4 oz bottle of breastmilk (that is a LOT for a newborn not even three weeks old) and then 30 minutes later a couple of ounces of formula on top of that. Hopefully his appetite will either calm down or we can get it worked out soon.

In happier news, Gray had his first "real" outing last night (meaning it was not to the pediatrician or the hospital). My parents came to keep me company for a little while and we took G out with us to Panera for dinner. We gave him a bottle about 30 minutes before we left and when we got there we pretty much holed up in a corner where no one else was sitting. He slept the entire time! My parents really wanted me to get out of the house with him so I would feel a little more sane and even though I was SO tired from yesterday's frustrations, it did feel really great to get out for an hour. Maybe we will get a little more "adventurous" in the near future and I will introduce him to the Starbucks drive-thru. :)

Here is G chillin at Panera:


I really need a shower and a nap but how sweet is this?

Before I know it, he will be too big and too cool for cuddling with me.

2 comments:

JAAG said...

Hey! About that age Atalie started being the same way (eating and gas). I ended up having to stop eating dairy and this is also when her colic started. The best thing we did was change bottles to Dr Browns, it was like a miracle after just a few feedings with those bottles. As for the amount of ounces, Atalie was eating about 4 oz as well, we found out that she had reflux, which can cause pain and make her think she was hungry, that's why she wanted to eat again. After we started her on meds, she went down to 2-3 ounces every 3-4 hours, so it really was a big help. But again, we also started battling colic at this age (which colic really is just stomach issues). We dealt with it for about a month, then at 7 weeks is when we changed the bottles, and all of a sudden we had a happy baby, gas and spit up dramatically improved. A few days after that, we also switched formula, which also seemed to help. I'm not sure if me going dairy free really helped or not, I stopped nursing at 8 weeks b/c the most I could ever produce is 1 oz (total!), and feeding time (between nursing and a bottle) lasted 1.5-2 hours. Anway, I'm not saying any of these things are what is going on, or that you have to do the same things. Just letting you know what we went through starting at 3 weeks and what helped. If you have any questions or want to talk, just let me know!

Summer Frey said...

It's surprising to me that a newborn human baby only eats 4 oz. I've been helping foster some newborn puppies, and the biggest one is eating at least 6-8oz. per feeding, and she's only 18 oz. herself!