I never would have imagined life with a newborn baby could be this easy, my previous experience of being the mother to a newborn taught me so much so quickly. Mostly how little sleep you can actually survive on and that there has been some major evolutionary error when it comes to breastfeeding, because something that is meant to be so completely natural and utterly essential can be one of the most difficult and painful things you'll ever have to go through. Fortunately this time round we've only had a handful of 'difficult' nights and feeding has been a breeze.
Since before reaching the 1 week mark, Effie had worked into a bedtime routine which sees her wake once between 12 and 8 and happily return to her moses basket without fussing, once her tummy is full and her nappy clean. Granted I've not managed more than a 5 hour stretch of sleep in 4 weeks, but I know I've got it easier than most and I'm still getting a good 7 hours most nights.
As for daytime, we have no routine what so ever, accept maybe, daytime is for feeding. And therefore feed she does, all day long. She doesn't much like sleeping during the day either, though she might go for an hour or two in the sling or the pushchair if you're lucky. As far as I'm concerned as long as she sleeps at night I'm happy to go with whatever she wants during daylight hours, for now anyway.
She'll have long periods of time now where she is awake and not feeding but instead an utterly joyful thing to watch and coo at and will reward you with delightful smiles if you're lucky.
We've had a bit of a slow start at weight gain, at first things seemed to be going well, however at 2 weeks her weight suddenly plummeted and despite being discharged from midwife care, we had to go back to regular weigh ins for a week. It was decided there may actually have been a bit of scale error at some point. Finally yesterday she was back up and slightly over the weight she started life at. The health visitor still showed some concern as she's dropped 2 centiles on the chart since birth, but as yet there has been no suggestion that she be 'topped up' with formula, the root of my all my feeding issues with Milo in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned as long as she's feeding lots, alert, sleeping well, happy and content (plus lots of dirty nappies) I'm happy that she's growing at just the right pace for her.
As for me, I'm completely recovered now, my tummy (though a little bit jiggly) seems to be back down to it's original size and I feel really really well. Like I said feeding is going well and we've already been out and about lots and had quite a bit of practice of feeding in public which I'm feeling quite happy about.
The whole household has taken to Effie being here as though she always was. I can't imagine a time without her now. Milo is neither put out by her presence or particularly enamoured with her, just yet, to be fair I can see how she is pretty boring as far as he's concerned. Though he's quite happy that she's here and looking forward to a time when he can teach her all the things and he's super helpful, will always get something for me if I need it and is happy to keep an eye on her whilst I leave the room if required.
All in all these past 4 weeks have been truly magical. I am so besotted with this deliciously cheeky baby.
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