I'm still here!

I wanted to thank all of you for your insight on sleep on my last post. It’s good to know I’m not alone. We are continuing to work on it and only hoping it will get better. I had started to get him to try and go to sleep on his own. I’ve still been nursing him right before bed but trying to put him in bed while he is drowsy. It work really well for 1 ½ weeks. I put him in bed still awake, he whined a little bit and then fell asleep.

Then he decided he wanted to flip over to his belly in bed. He’s been swaddled (a Woombie) since birth. After seeing him flip, we were concerned that he wouldn’t have access to his arms to flip back over. So we took it off. The first night sleeping without it was hell. He has been so used to being confined so we attempted a sleep sack and he seems to like it. He has access to his arms but is covered up more. Since using his sleep sack he’s been really good at falling asleep on his own. I think he’s got it figured out!

Another wrench in all of this is he has gotten his two bottom teeth. We discovered them coming through after his 4 months check up. And they are out. They feel like puppy teeth. He’s been drooling a lot and wanting to gnaw on everything. I’m sure this is not helping us with sleep.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of emotions for awhile now. A few Friday’s at work I had a serious meltdown and felt like everything was spiraling out of control. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and having a lot of anxiety. I want to be perfect in every aspect of life and need to learn I can’t do that. I want to the perfect wife, mother and employee. If only that was so easy.

I’m trying to work on dealing with my emotions as they come and not let them pile up as that is what happened. I know lack of sleep is not helping me either. I’ve been trying to make time almost every day to exercise as I know it will help with my emotions as well as my body image. It’s been lighter later so after putting Liam to bed around 7:30, I’ve been heading outside for a run. It makes me feel so much better.

Liam is starting to need to eat more at daycare. The bottles of 3 ½ ounces aren’t doing it anymore for him. I’m feeling a lot of pressure to produce more milk. It’s tough because this kid eats every 1 ½ hours (from start of one feeding to the start of the next). I thought he would outgrow this as he got older, but no. Every 1 ½ hours he wants to eat again. Trying to make time to pump at work has been a challenge. I know the more I pump the more I will produce. I just don’t want to give him formula yet. I know I should be thankful I’ve made it this far but still. If I can’t get enough milk, he might need a bottle or two of formula at daycare.

I love being a mother and am so grateful for him in my life, despite the challenges we are currently facing. It’s amazing to see him change each day. We started giving him solids after his 4th month check up and he seems too really like that. His favorite is apples. This kid has a serious appetite! We have been feeding him about 30 minutes before bedtime in the hopes of making him full and able to sleep longer. He is loving daycare as well. We drop him off and he barely acknowledges us. He is more interested in looking at all the kids around! I’m so thankful we have found a place that he loves and I feel comfortable leaving him at.

An FYI, I’m still having problems commenting on some of your blogs. I am reading them!