Semi-solid

Well, the boy had his four-month checkup this past week. He was 15 lbs 6 oz, and 25 inches long (although I think he's a bit longer; he was squirming quite a bit while she was trying to get the measurement). Both of those are 75th percentile for his age, so he's a pretty good size I'd say. He got more vaccinations, and this time he seemed to react a bit more to them. Last time he just slept a lot and seemed out of sorts; this time he seemed to run a bit of a temperature, which I know is not uncommon, and really seemed to not be feeling well. Thankfully, by the next morning he seemed to be over both the fever and the grumpiness.

He must be going through a growth spurt right now, because he's doing what they call "cluster feeding", where he eats a number of times in a short period. All the literature says it's pretty common, and while I feel like I must not be making enough milk, the books also say that part of the reason for the multiple feedings is because suckling is soothing and helps him calm down. He does fall asleep much more easily at the end of a feeding while still attached to the breast, rather than when I put him down when he's still fairly awake. He might wake up a bit when I put him down after feeding, but generally if I gently hold his arms still for a minute or two, he's down and will stay asleep for a few hours.

Unfortunately he's also eating more at night, which is wearing me OUT. I am so freaking tired I can't see straight. Several nights straight I've just broken down at some point and cried while feeding the baby. One night I'd already been up with the boy four times, got back in bed and happened to glance at my alarm clock, to discover it was only 1:30 am and I'd only been in bed for two hours. That was one of my "break down and cry" moments. I think Brendan has had gas for some reason lately, and the gas pains have woken him up a few times. I've been trying to let him cry a little bit before going in after him, in the hopes that he'll go back to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it still doesn't help my sleep pattern, because I lay there listening for the sounds of stirring. Combine my ready-wakefulness with my husband's snoring, and I've got a recipe for no sleep at all. It definitely is wearing me out. A friend of mine with a newborn is having her son do a sleepover with someone else (I think it's another family member, but I'm not sure from her Facebook post), and was looking forward to going to bed at 8 pm for a change. I'd love to do something like that, but at the same time I think I'd be so worried about the baby and whether or not he was having a good night that I probably wouldn't sleep well. I'd rather he just start sleeping through the night here.

One thing I'm hoping will help him sleep better is the introduction of solid food. Our pediatrician said it was OK to try him with rice cereal, so we've given him some the last couple of nights, mixed with breast milk. I can't tell if he likes it or not. He squeals the whole time he's being fed, and I'm not sure if it's happy squeals or angry squeals. It's easier to get more of the cereal into his mouth (rather than all over his face) if the baby is reclined in his pillow rather than sitting in his Bebepod, at least for now. He's getting better at not thrusting his tongue forward and pushing everything out of his mouth, but he needs a little more practice. He also seems to get annoyed when he has to sit up for long periods of time. We're working on it. Right now he's only getting one feeding of cereal, in the evening, but after a week or so we'll probably step up to two. I need to look at some of the "solid food schedules" to see what the recommended procedure is for the introduction of various foods. I do know the basic progression is cereals, veggies, fruits, and then meats, but I don't know if there's a specific order that is best to follow. We'll see.

I'll be happy to feed the kid whatever it takes so I can get some SLEEP! I realized that it's been a full year since the last time I had an uninterrupted night's sleep, since the first symptom of pregnancy I noticed was having to get up and pee in the middle of the night, when I was about a month along. That is way too damn long to go without sleeping straight through the night. I'm due, dammit!