Sweet Pea is 4 months old!

Eating: Sweet Pea moved up to 3.5 ounces per feed this month. I am always afraid to up her ounces because of her stomach issues, but she has done just fine with 3.5 ounces. We wanted to increase to 3.5 ounces in an attempt to help her sleep through the night. She is still eating every 3 hours with maybe one 3.5 hour stretch in there. She tries to hold her bottle, but I don’t encourage that!

Sleep: During month three she took four predictable naps and fell into a nice pattern there. She would nap at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm. First three naps were 2 hours long and the last nap was about 1 to 1.5 hours long. When her Zantac needs to be adjusted my first clue is her naps become interrupted from spiting up/spells.

She is still waking at least once, sometimes twice, during the night. After her 12 week growth spurt she stopped waking at 4am (ish) to eat, but then around week 14 she started waking again and has continued since.

Through trial and error I have determined with confidence that Sweet Pea does not need to eat during the night and is just waking out of habit and for the pacifier.

While this is very frustrating because I know if I could just sleep train her she would start sleeping straight through the night (11:30-8ish), I really want to wait until her stomach issues are behind us before I sleep train her.

So, around 4am every morning I give her the paci. Sometimes she requires another paci insert around 6am. And on really bad nights, she requires another insert somewhere in the 4-8am hours. This too shall pass is my motto for now concerning this.

Smile: Some babies you have to work to get them to crack a smile. Not Sweet Pea. She has been genuinely smiling since she was 3 weeks old and you don’t even have to work hard to get her to smile. All you have to do is look at her and she flashes her big grin. I really believe God allowed Sweet Pea to be this way because of her tummy issues. You don’t know how many times I have been upset or frustrated about her stomach issues, and then she flashes that smile (even right after a bad spell) and it serves as a reminder to me that we must have joy through our trials because Jesus is our JOY – not our circumstances. Sweet Pea truly is the happiest baby I have ever seen.

Wake Time: Sweet Pea is still at just under an hour of wake time. At ten till the hour I start wrapping her up in the Miracle Blanket for a nap. I know she is getting sleepy when she stops making eye contact with me and stops smiling easily. She LOVES this bouncer at my mom’s house. She sits there talking away to the animals.

Clothes: Sweet Pea is wearing mostly 3 month clothes. She can fit in certain 3-6 month outfits and can still wear several 0-3 month outfits.

Diapers: Still in Size 1, but we are on our last box. I won’t buy any more Size 1s and will move her to the Size 1-2s.

Weight: On November 29th, at Sweet Pea’s GI check up, she weighed 12lbs. 11 oz.!

Tummy Troubles: We had a week or so in this month where we were trying to figure out Sweet Pea’s med dosage. Zantac three times a day at 1mL did the trick. I think this is going to be the norm from here on out (having to figure out her new dosage monthly). When her dosage is at the right amount, Sweet Pea really does have minimal tummy troubles, which is such a HUGE relief!

Meds: We still give Gripe Water in every bottle along with Mylecon before laying down for a nap. She is still on pre-mixed formula. That combo, along with the 3mL of zantac/day keeps her stomach issues under control.

GI Check Up: November 29th Sweet Pea had her GI check up. It was a very good appointment. We met with the nurse who took a lot of time to talk to me about several concerns I’ve had. I’ve felt in my gut Sweet Pea does not need that 4am feed anymore and the nurse agreed that for Sweet Pea’s weight and the fact that she is getting six 3.5 ounces bottles per day she is getting what she needs. She said overfeeding her would be bad. It was just nice to have a medical professional validate my gut instinct that I didn’t need to feed Sweet Pea at 4am.

The nurse said the spit up may increase some during month 4 as Sweet Pea becomes more mobile, but by 5-6 months we should see great improvements.

We go back for another check up in January.

Schedule (3 months old):

8am eat

9-11am nap

11am eat

12-2pm nap

2pm eat

3-5pm nap

5/5:30pm eat

6-7/7:30 nap

7:45 bath

8:15 eat

8:30 bed

11:30 dreamfeed

4am wake for paci

This month, overall, has been pretty routine, which is so nice to be able to say! Babies really do fall into a good routine by month 3 if you put forth some effort to help them get there. My days are certainly busy managing the needs of both girls, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love being at home with my girls. I look forward to Sweet Pea dropping the 4th nap (hopefully sometime in the next month) and extending her wake times a bit, so that she will be awake for longer periods of time. Some days, it feels like all she does is eat and sleep. I look forward to her becoming more mobile and learning to hold and play with toys. It will be so much fun when the girls can start playing together. Then maybe, just maybe, I can fold a load of laundry without having to refold it a million times and ask Little Bug to please not touch the laundry I’ve already folded! But most of all, the sound of two little girls laughing and playing in my home will be the best sound ever!

Happy 4 Months, Sweet Pea!

- Elaine