(2 month pics coming soon!)
Oh, Lukey. Mommy jinxed us. I posted that we were over the 6 week hump, but the crying has persisted. This has been a tough month for us. Thankfully, you have been having more happy awake period lately, giving us huge smiles and spending some time exploring your play mat. We also now have a few things that might help you feel better and improve your fussiness now so hopefully there will be fewer tears soon.
At 2 months, Luke is:
-Exactly 12lbs and measuring 23 inches long (although I think he is longer). Holding strong on the 50th percentile.
-Nursing every 2-3 hours for 13-20 minutes for a total of about 2 hours and 15 minutes a day (thanks to my app for telling me that)
-(I don't want to jinx us, but...) Sleeping from about 8:30pm-3am, nursing and then going back to sleep for 3 more hours until about 6 or 6:30am. You have a hard time going back to sleep after that because Mommy gets up to work out, so usually you taking a nap by 9 or 9:30.
-Working on more regular naps. Well, really Mommy is doing this. We realized that Luke is often fussy because he is tired but does not fall asleep or show sleepy signs (except fussiness). So I'm being more conscious about putting him down in his crib for a nap if he's been awake for 2 hours. So naps might be 9:30-10:30, 11:30-12:30, 2-4, and maybe a cat nap around 5:30 or 6.
-Giving us lots of big smiles and cooing. Love this! Sometimes when I am nursing him or trying to put him to sleep, Luke will give me the biggest smiles. Melts my heart!
-Loving his play mat- Luke likes to kick the piggy because it jingles, smiles up at the baby in the mirror, and grabs at the hula monkey. I feel like he is learning when he is on it, and he's happy to stay there for 20 minutes or so, so this is a great thing.
-Hating the car seat. Luke screams in the car almost every time. I counted last week and he cried 4/5 car trips- even short ones. Both of his older brothers hated the car seat too, but they didn't scream quite so loudly. Unfortunately Luke is the 3rd child so we can't avoid going out in the car every day. Ironically, he did pretty well on our long trip to the shore. I was in the back seat with him (middle row- we got a minivan!) and replaced the pacifier whenever it feel out, but he barely needed it.
-Giving Daddy a hard time- Luke has a harder time settling with Daddy than with Mommy. Sometimes Luke'll be crying hysterically with Daddy and simply handing him to Mommy calms him down. He just can't get comfortable on Daddy. This is something we are working on improving for many reasons!
At his 2 month appointment, the doctor said she thinks he might have reflux (he has no overt signs so she called it silent reflux). These signs include his preference to be upright rather than cradled, his painful burps, and some neck movements he does. We're starting him on Zantac and hoping it will help him feel better and cry less. She also prescribed a probiotic, which some studies have show improves colic. I'm happy that he will (hopefully) be feeling better soon, but i feel just awful that he has suffered for so long!
Luke also got his shots and didn't have the greatest reaction. He was hysterical after his afternoon nap and despite our attempts to hold off on the Tylenol (there is some evidence that it may affect immunity from shots), we had to give it to him. He slept most of the rest of the day. So full disclosure, his pictures are not from his exact 2 month birthday. A day later, he is still very fussy and it feels like he still has a fever. But I'll happily take any of these symptoms over measles, mumps, rotovirus, or any of the other awful things he was immunized against!
