In the past week we have had little smiles and Joel seems to want to lift his head for long periods either when holding him or when he is lying down he just wants to see what is going on around him. He is also staring at colourful toys and following with his eyes when we move them (so proud).
Today he turned 6 weeks old and gave me the biggest smile which just filled me with happiness it's so strange what simple things a little one can do to brighten up your day. I keep trying to get him to do it again so I can take a photo but its not happening.
The last two nights Joel has slept 5 hours straight which has been amazing and then he seems to wake every 2 hours until 8am. The odd day and especially early evenings he wants to feed every hour. The longest he goes without food is if I go out walking with him in a sling then it can stretch to 3-4 hours before a feed.
We shall see on Monday if he has put on any weight which I'm sure he has. From birth he was 8lb 15oz then at 4 weeks he shot up to 10lb 14.5oz.
He's growing so quickly he has now grown out of his first size sleep suits.
Joel is now exactly a month old I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.
That first day he was born I thought just maybe he would be a quieter, calmer and possibly easier baby than Ollie but over the last four weeks I have learnt that's not the case. After just two days Joel showed the true him with a very shouty cry, not letting me sleep with constant feeding (every 1-2hours mostly). After 5 days he rolled from his front to back which makes us think he could reach his milestones early like Ollie did (trouble ahead) Ollie could walk at 11 months which I felt was too early.
Four weeks on it has been impossible to put him down for long periods of time in a Moses basket or chair, I've tried leaving him to cry it out in the hope he would settle himself but it doesn't seem to happen and his cry is pretty annoying as it is so loud. The best method so far has been placing him in his chair and rocking it, giving a dummy and wrapping a blanket around him but again it doesn't tend to last longer that 30 minutes.
Any advice would be much appreciated on getting newborns to settle in a Moses basket.
The last couple of days he has cried a lot more because he has a stuffy nose which is understandable but you get to a point and think what do I do to stop him and o far it's been feeding him which I thought would make it more difficult as don't babies breathe through there noses.
This little bundle of joy called Joel is not letting me sleep, I thought growth spurts only last a day or two but I'm sure this one is on a permanent growth spurt with regular feeds every 1 - 2 hours if I'm lucky it can go to 2 - 3 hours but even so he doesn't like to be put down some days he can last about 30 minutes in his moses basket or chair before waking and screaming to be picked up but some days it's 5 minutes, it's exhausting.
I have started to crave being alone as I need a break from it. If its not Joel demanding feeds or to be held its Ollie needing my attention. I knew it would be hard having two little ones close together but on top of dividing myself between the two I'm just not getting enough sleep so I'm irritable, moody, emotional, stressed and my patience has gone out the window but I'm surprising myself how I'm carrying on with just about 3 hours sleep some nights and that is often broken sleep.
The joys of being a parent :)
