Brice is strong! He throws his body around-- He leans his head back and over he goes. When he's on his tummy against our chests, he can lift and turn his head (or throw his body over to the side if he'd prefer to be nursing). I didn't know that newborns could do this! He practically threw himself out of the swing today.
Brice also moves when he's in the co-sleeper. Despite us putting him down on his back in the center, Brice turns to sleep on his side. He also prefers to have his head near the side of the co-sleeper so he moves himself so that his forehead leans against the side. As a mom, this is very concerning-- I've tried putting rolled up blankets by his legs and he winds up sideways. The pediatrician said it's fine, but it's still got me worried.
He has a little tail.
He's a really good eater (so far), but definitely a grazer. He eats every 1-2 hours, but only for 5-10 minutes. Brice cluster feeds at night- he'll eat almost constantly for an hour and a half before going to bed. Luckily after that we usually get 3 or 4 3-hour stretches of sleep. Or at least that's what we were getting...
All of the grazing is paying off- Brice put on 3oz in the first two days home from the hospital (to 7lbs 3oz) and another 11oz over the next 8 days (to 7lbs 14oz)-- almost 1.5oz a day!
When he's hungry, Brice starts huffing and puffing. If he's really hungry, he'll start snorting. It's really funny!
He stays awake for a few hours in the morning- about 8 or 9am until about 1pm. Luckily he's been taking a good afternoon nap at the same time as Chase....and Mommy! Brice is also awake from about 6-10pm at night (mostly eating).
Brice has a blocked tear duct. Saturday afternoon we noticed his eye was red and had some goop coming out of it. I cleaned it with clean warm wash clothes as much as possible (including throughout the night) and we called the pediatrician on Sunday morning. She said he probably has a blocked tear duct that got some bacteria in it and prescribed an ointment. As soon as we put the ointment in, it looked so much better. Phew!
He also has what sounds like congestion. The pediatrician said that it's common in newborns to have some fluid in their airways from everything from birth to reflux. Sometimes it sounds terrible and seems like he has trouble breathing and other times you don't even hear it.
So far, Brice is a pretty chill baby. He's sweet to snuggle with, loves me holding him, and smells like a baby. I went back and read some of Chase's posts and remembered that the next two weeks are harder than the first-- so stay tuned!
