4 Months Old: Happy Baby, Tired Momma

Sitting funny (c:

Declan is 4 months old today!  I'm looking forward to breaking out some of the 4-month gear we have in the closet, like the Johnny Jump-Up and a sling for older babies.  I have started using the Bumbo with him even though I think it's more of a 4-month thing, but I tuck a little rolled blanket around him to keep him from leaning too far over (c:

He is enjoying tummy time more, although he still has trouble remembering how to roll over.  Our hands are some of his favorite things to hold and stare at.  He'll grab a finger and pull it towards him, then push it out over and over.  He's very vocal and also loves to be talked to.  He'll often stare at me with pure delight listening when I talk to him, which is all the time.  Grandma GoGo started teaching him to make an "aaaa" noise while we pat his mouth -- "awa-wa-wa-wa-wa..."

His personality is definitely starting to show.  When I'm carrying him around over my shoulder, he will "comment" on what he sees with sudden little outbursts of, "uh!"  or even, "ooooo!"

He holds his toys pretty well - enjoys the octopus from the Baby Einstein ocean play mat the most.  It has a rattle and a ring in the shape of a fish that is easy for him to hold onto and put in his mouth.  It goes with us everywhere.

We're still waiting on the baby laugh.  Supposedly, my dad got him to laugh on October 2nd.  Only he and my mom were there to hear it.  We haven't been able to get him to do it again, despite our desperate efforts.

Mid-September, Delcan suddenly started to refuse feedings and cried a lot.  It was easy to see he was hungry, but something was wrong.  I took him to the doctor who diagnosed him with acid reflux and prescribed Zantac, which took a week to work.  In the meantime, I tried to breastfeed him, but most feedings ended up giving him a bottle of pumped milk because they were easier for him to take (I guess the acid reflux made his esophagus irritated).  4 days later, he and I went to visit my parents in New Braunfels for a week.  The medicine started working while we were there, but by then he had developed nipple confusion from all of the bottle feedings, and although he was not crying in pain from reflux, his cry had changed to frustration because he wanted the easy bottle.  A week later we are still struggling with it, but the past two days he has shown dramatic improvement and we are almost back to normal.  We'll be staying away from bottles for a while, needless to say.

Sleep has become difficult for him lately, too.  While we were visiting my parents, Declan, who normally sleeps 10 hours a night at home, started waking every 3 hours, then 2 hours, and on the last two nights we were there, he woke about every hour.  I hoped that when we came home, his sleep would settle back into its normal rhythm.  3 nights home, and he has been waking 3-4 times a night.  A great improvement, yes, but I can tell something is still up.  When I investigated Zantac on the Internet, I found that a side affect is insomnia.  His sleep has gotten a little better every night since he has been off of it (3 days).

I feel like I go through a different theory every day, sometimes several times a day, regarding his sudden change in eating habits.  Most recently I have been reading about nursing strikes.  There are a lot of different reasons why babies do it at this age.  However, I think I've come to realize that since we have ruled out the potentially serious problems like illness, teething pains, ear infection, and acid reflux, the reason is not really important.  The treatment is to keep trying frequently, be patient, and keep an eye on his output to make sure he's not getting dehydrated.  So that's where I'm at (today).  Sometimes it really helps to remind myself that this is temporary.

Time for his bath!  That's always a good time.  Let's hope 5 months brings about me laughing at how little of a deal all of this hard stuff was!