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2006-11-12 - 11.56pm previous entry next entry
First toothie!!! And Arthur's 2-year stats, etc.
I wrote an entry earlier today about Arthur's 2nd birthday (with a million photos!), but here's the one I said I would write afterwards, with just recent stuff about the boys, catch-up stuff about Matthew, and some 2-year-old stats for Arthur! :)
Matthew has cut his first tooth today!!! At 4 months and 4 weeks old! He has been teething quite badly for a while, but worse over the last week. Last night he woke almost hourly and I just figured he had wind or was growing or something, and saw it as an opportunity to get some extra milk calories into him (more on that in a bit), so I didn't mind. He settled fine with breastfeeding and didn't seem to be obviously teething overnight. But today he was fussing and gnawing on his hand again, which seems to be his constant thing lately. I went to put some Bonjela on his gums this morning, and imagine my surprise when I felt the sharp corner of a new toothie on my not-even-five-months-old baby boo's gum!!!!
Arthur was 8 months and 1 week old when he cut his first tooth - the very same one that Matthew has cut today, the left bottom front tooth. Arthur teethed on and off really quite badly from 11 weeks old, but still didn't get a tooth till over 8 months old, so I totally didn't expect anything from all of Matthew's teething for a good few months yet! I am just boggled to keep feeling that new toothie! This boy just seems to want to be older than he is, developmentally, in all directions! He is so eager to do things with Arthur. I know he's going to do most of the motor stuff earlier than Arthur because of that, but I had no idea he'd get teeth so much earlier too!
He woke crying less than an hour after he went to bed this evening and we gave him Calpol. His cheeks were all red :( It's SO hard to give Matthew medicine. He fights it and pushes away with his hands and turns his head away sharply. If any gets in his mouth, he spits it out instantly! The alternative is that he's crying and ends up inhaling the medicine and then because it's thick and goopy, he can't breathe in or out and it's REALLY scary for a moment while I hold him practically upside-down and bang his back! Then after all that, most of it has come back out and all he has ended up with is a ton of air in his stomach from the choking. *sigh* But I think we got half a dose into him this evening. I hope it helps him. We use a 5ml syringe to give him Calpol. I think we might try the sachets next time, in case he takes to them better. A spoon would probably make a huge mess with even less success.
I can't believe he's got a tooth. Suddenly it feels like he's growing up toooo fast, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it!
The day before yesterday, he was on his tummy on the floor mat and I could see him eyeing up Arthur's ball-blast toy thingy. It's bright and colourful and stands very tall from his perspective. He was making movements that I recognise as him wanting to make his body GET to the thing he's interested in. He can roll clear across the room to get to things - I keep finding him wedged up against the toy unit, gnawing on the edge of the box that holds the Duplo, hehe! Or up against the foot of the sofa chewing on a sock that he was attracted by. He can roll over and over so fast now that it's like he whips over and then stops and looks surprised at his own speed! He can also rotate himself well, on his tummy, if he sees something to his left or right that he wants. He also uses things to pull toys towards him - like if the toy is on the mat but several feet away, he'll grasp the mat and pull and pull till it has brought the toy near enough to grab it. Smartie-Boo!
He can slowly squiggle and roll himself forwards a couple of feet to get to something out of reach in front of him. I know he is DESPERATE to crawl! Poor lovey! He'll get there soon enough, I'm sure. Anyway, so the day before yesterday he was eyeing the ball-blast and it was a couple of feet in front of him. He was on his tummy, and I watched him roll his hips sideways so that he could swing his knees up under his body, and then he brought his hips back square to his body again but with his legs curled RIGHT up against his tummy. Then he lifted his chin to look at his target (!!), shoved hard to push his legs out from under him, and shot forward a foot! Then with his arm really outstretched, he could just about touch the ball-blast! Clever boy :) He is going to be thrilled when he can actually move about on his hands and knees!
It's weird to think that Matthew is about to turn 5 months old. It's still so young, but it seems that he's getting older so fast. In another 5 months, he will be the same age as Arthur was when Matthew was conceived! Weird thought. It's just recently that Neil and I came across photos of Arthur around the time that I got pregnant with Matthew, and we just gasped at how YOUNG he was when we started another baby baking in there! It seemed crazy suddenly! I'm SO glad we did though :) I love having my sweet Matthew and the fact that they are so close in age. It's been long enough now since Matthew was born, that we can look at the photos of Arthur holding him a week or so after he was born, and think how little Arthur looked in them - how "still a baby" he was. It's only 5 months, nearly, but he has already changed and grown so much in that time. He's STILL so little and barely out of babyhood, but he was even more so then. I know the older they get, the more I'm going to look at those photos and BOGGLE that I was crazy enough to have another baby when my first was soooo little! But I'll always be glad all the same :)
I am about to get my first postpartum period. Urgh. I just know it. My body is NUTS. Exclusively breastfeeding your baby, especially doing so on demand, is generally meant to delay the reappearance of periods for some time - the average is 14 months postpartum. Once you supplement or start solids, or wean partially (ie at night) or completely, things can change. It's a nice way to space your kids (it's known as "ecological breastfeeding" or "natural child spacing"), because you're simply not fertile for the time they're very little if you're breastfeeding. But my body is daft. I was exclusively breastfeeding Arthur till 8 months old as he was so unimpressed with solids when we tried him on them from 6 months that we gave up and left it till then. He has never had a bottle of breast milk or formula. He was fed entirely on demand, day and night, and nursed very frequently. We were not using pacifiers. But my period returned at 5 months and 10 days postpartum, and I had ovulated before it too (lots of obvious fertile signs which I charted), but only 4 days before, so my cycle was essentially infertile. The gap between ovulation and my period wasn't long enough to support a pregnancy each cycle, until the one where I got pregnant with Matthew - or the cycle before, when I had a chemical pregnancy (verrrry early miscarriage). So I guess, for me, our kids HAVE been spaced by natural child spacing/ecological breastfeeding. I found a quote from an article at The Couple to Couple League (natural family planning site) that explains it better:
"In two separate studies, the Couple to Couple League found that the more common range for the return of the first menstruation among American women doing ecological breastfeeding is 12 to 16 months postpartum with an average of about 14.5 months. And, just as there are a few who have a more extended duration of amenorrhea, there are also a few who experience the return of menstrual periods only two to four months postpartum. On the average, however, true ecological breastfeeding will space babies about two years apart even in North American culture."
I can't FATHOM what my body thinks it's doing when I am exclusively breastfeeding my not-yet-5-month-old, day and night, AND still breastfeeding my toddler during the day and evening! Does it REALLY think it's a good idea that I have three children under three, seriously?! I'm kind of annoyed, because it's not like I want to USE my menstrual cycle for a good while yet! I know from last time that my cycles won't even be fertile for ages anyway, so what's the point in them even being there for now?! Tsk. All it means is that I'll be cranky and irritable leading up to a period once a month, crampy and queasy and headachy and having to look after two little ones once a month, and my milk will change in taste and quantity during ovulation and menstruation. Where's the benefit in any of that?!! Pfthth.
Anyway. I may not get my period, you never know. But I would be hugely surprised. I started charting again a couple of weeks ago when I got EWCM for the first time since the cycle where Matthew was conceived. Sorry for the slightly-TMI fertility charting jargon, but if you've read my pregnancy/TTC diary over the years, you'll know that I talk about such things readily, and you'll also probably know what all the abbreviations mean! That was my first sign of possible returning fertility, when I got EWCM a few days before my first period after Arthur was born, so when I got it this time, I charted it straight away. However, no period came and that was a couple of weeks ago. I have had one day of EWCM since then but I forgot to chart it and I can't remember when it was. Anyway. The last few days I have been crampy - it was bad enough to distract me on and off on Arthur's birthday at the farm, and the cramps were worse the next day. Yesterday I had bothersome cramps and a headache, and today I have had a really bad headache - the type I used to get sometimes the day before a period arrived. I have also had rotten cramps with some all-too-familiar queasiness, and even had to go to bed this afternoon for a bit because the darn painkillers didn't work (another classic sign of a pre-period headache for me) - thank goodness it's the weekend and Neil was able to help me get a time-out.
I have been checking ALL DAY to see if I have my period, but nothing yet. Maybe it won't turn up. But I'd be so surprised after all these symptoms. Pesky.
Anyway, enough about such things! ;)
I took the boys to the drop-in baby clinic on Friday because I realised I hadn't had Matthew weighed in 6 weeks, and I wanted to see how he was getting along. I felt that he was doing fine and gaining well because he has soft rounded little cheeks, and he has soft little rolls at the tops of his thighs, and creases in his arms - though he's obviously a MUCH leaner baby than Arthur was! He's growing out of 3-6 month clothes and starting to find the 6-9 month sleepsuits too short, so I knew he was growing well.
But I was surprised when he was weighed and they told me he had dropped to the 9th percentile! I felt confused and a bit deflated about it. He was born at the 50th, and gradually dropped a little each time he was weighed - just above the 25th, on the 25th, just below it, etc. Now he's at the 9th, and has gained only 1lb in 6 weeks. I felt so sure he'd gained normally and maybe even picked up on the percentiles - I was quite shocked to hear he'd gone down again. I can't understand why though. Maybe it's normal somehow, but it shook my confidence all the same. The Health Visitor suggested that I start him on solids so that he doesn't "tail off" any further. She said he's old enough for them anyway. That made me feel even more deflated because I really really do want to wait till my kids are 6 months old before starting solids. There is a LOT to say that it's a good idea, especially with allergies in the family (which there are), and in any case, I am not in a rush to move my little tiny people onto the next thing and get them eating. I hadn't even checked that list of signs to see if he might be ready for solids, because even if he apparently was, *I* am not, and he certainly won't suffer for having a breastmilk only diet for another month - it's just another month after all. If he's hungrier than before (which he doesn't appear to be) then I can just breastfeed him more frequently - again, it's only a matter of a few weeks and it's worth it if there are any increased risks of allergies. He wouldn't go hungry or unsatisfied.
But, now. This weight gain thing. He now weighs 14lbs 3oz, at 21 weeks old. Arthur weighed exactly the same at 12 weeks old!!! He had doubled his birthweight by 16 weeks! After I came back from the clinic, the first chance I got, I went online and asked advice at some online groups. My GUT feeling is still to wait till 6 months old. But that gut feeling was challenged by the horrid thought that I was doing something wrong by my littlest one, and it made me lose confidence over what was best for him. Almost everyone said to go with my gut, which was a relief to hear! The only other response I got was from someone who had been advised to start her little ones (twins) on solids really quite early because they were in the 3rd and 5th percentiles - so, the same advice that I have been given, for the same reason. She followed the advice and said her twins have had no problems with solids and love their food at 5 months old.
I phoned my mum and she was very reassuring and supportive. She told me to follow my instincts and reassured me that *I* know what is best for my baby, not the Health Visitor. She said that Matthew doesn't LOOK undernourished, or in need of extra help. He's lean, but not thin. She reminded me of the photos of me when I was 6 weeks old and her milk had been drying up for a couple of weeks. I had little stick arms and legs and visible ribs, and really looked thin for a baby. After that I went on formula and plumped up quickly! Poor Mummy, she so wanted to breastfeed me successfully, and she got absolutely zero support at the time :( Anyway, Matthew does not look anything like that. He doesn't cry and fuss for milk all the time, and doesn't ask for milk overly frequently. He seems full before my milk is all used up so I know I have enough, even feeding Arthur too. I'm sure he'll increase on that percentile chart once he's well established on solids, but I don't feel like there's a NEED to hurry that up. It's only 4 or 5 weeks now till he's 6 months old and I'll have reached the time where I would have started him on solids anyway. I might start him in the week leading up to 6 months old, we'll see.
Someone online gave me that list of things to check to see if your baby is ready for solids. Matthew sits well with support, though he topples forwards constantly because he's always reaching for something or trying to eat his feet! He doesn't appear to have his tongue-thrust reflex any more but I'm not quite sure how best to test that so I can't be 100% sure. He is fascinated watching us eat, and watches the food from my plate to my mouth. He hasn't grabbed at my food or cutlery yet but then he's never close enough to attempt that. He does hold his head up really well. BUT, one of the main things - he hasn't doubled his birthweight yet. I figured out that he'll need to be 15lbs 6oz before he's doubled his birthweight - another 1lb 3oz to go. And he only gained 1lb in the last 6 weeks. I reckon if he continues to gain at the same rate, he'll double his birthweight roughly around 6 months, or a week or so later. So that would bring me to the time I planned to start him on solids anyway.
I decided to wait till 6 months despite the advice, and not take him back to that baby clinic until after he's on solids, just because they'll expect me to have followed the advice and I just don't want to deal with the discussion over why not, etc, especially if he happens to drop a little further on the chart. He is still GAINING weight, so surely that's okay? I have decided to take him to the appt-only clinic with my own lovely Health Visitor who has seen me since Arthur was born, and have her weigh him in the week before he turns 6 months old. She won't know that the clinic has given me advice that I haven't followed, and she has always been so much more reassuring and knowledgeable in the way she talks to me, than the Health Visitors at the clinic - even though they are LOVELY and generally supportive also. She is also way more supportive of me breastfeeding two than the clinic Health Visitors (who keep on at me to wean Arthur for my own sanity!), because she herself has breastfed twins and knows that breasts are made to be perfectly able to provide for two babies. If she says that he's dropping on the percentile chart, she'll advise me to start solids immediately, at that age, and of course I will begin. I do want to know what he weighs RIGHT before I start him on solids, so I want him weighed again before 6 months, just not at the clinic. So that's what I'll do.
Despite that decision, I couldn't help but feel like I'm somehow not quite providing Matthew with ALL that he needs, given how he's dropping down on that darn chart. I know that breastfed babies have a whole different curve on charts - here's a breastfed baby growth chart from Kellymom - and that the charts I'm going by are for formula-fed babies, but even so, I think he is dropping on that one too. Not as strongly as on the formula-fed growth charts, but still. I wish I could print one out so I could plot his weigh-ins on it and see more clearly, but we don't have a working printer.
I think I CAN do a bit better for him though, so I'm going to try a few things just to be sure I'm giving him the very best I can. I sometimes wonder if I'm responding accurately to his cues for milk. He is SUCH an easy-going baby. He doesn't make a huge fuss when he's hungry, and Arthur was SO completely opposite that maybe I'm missing his quiet cues because I don't hear them loud and clear like I'm used to from Arthur. Also I am so busy, perhaps I overlook things and then suddenly realise he's due a feed, when if I had nobody but Matthew to focus on, I might see that he is actually interested in feeding an hour before I look at the clock and think to feed him. So I thought I could try offering him the breast a little more frequently, say 2-hourly. He will (apparently) happily go 3 hours before I know he wants milk. He is the kind of baby who doesn't care to snack, and gets annoyed if I keep offering him the breast when he's not ready for a big meal! So I know he'd just tell me if he wasn't hungry enough yet.
The other thing is, I need to let him FINISH more often. I am so rushed sometimes when I feed him, because Arthur needs supervising or my help with something. Matthew sometimes gets taken off the breast before he's naturally ready to spit it out and be all done. Again, he is so easy going that he doesn't complain about this, so I guess I sometimes figure that he's all done anyway. Sometimes he gets one side and when he's finished, I'll burp him, intending to put him on the other side to see if he wants any more. And then something will call me away and he ends up with just that one side. Which is plentiful, but he might have had more if it was offered. When I do offer him side 2, he sometimes refuses, but more often than not he will take some - even most of that side sometimes. Also I need to use my head a little more regarding breastfeeding Arthur. If Matthew hasn't fed for 1.5 hours or more, I should either NOT nurse Arthur, or else just make sure he only has one side. Arthur has always been a little mama-milk piggy! He will happily DRAIN me of milk on both sides, right after a meal. He will take more milk for a snack than Matthew ever takes for a whole hungry meal. I have lots of milk so I know he gets a LOT when he drains both sides! But I need to think more, when Matthew could be coming up for time to nurse, so that there is plenty left for Matthew. My breasts make plenty for both of them, and Matthew always seems to have milk even on exceptional occasions where he wants to nurse unexpectedly right after I fed Arthur. He never complains that there isn't enough if Arthur has fed recently, so I suppose I have thought that everything is fine. But maybe it's not? Maybe he's just not the type to complain, and I should be looking out for him better than I am?
So, I am offering him the breast more frequently, and making sure he is always offered the second side. And making sure he finishes in his OWN time. Which has been easy enough so far, because it has been the weekend and Neil has been around, but it could be interesting during the week. Matthew is very fussy feeding with sounds and distractions around him, and he feeds best and longest lying down next to me in a tummy-to-tummy position. So these days I pretty much HAVE to take him upstairs to feed him in bed every time he needs one, so that he gets the best feed he can. This means Arthur is downstairs, and that child is just waiting for me to be indisposed upstairs, so that he can make mischief downstairs! Or else just yell and yell and YELL for me from the bottom of the stairs. A 5 minute feed is hard to do with Arthur unsupervised downstairs! I need to let Matthew luxuriate at the breast for longer but I am not sure what will happen with Arthur if I do that! On Friday I tried bringing Arthur up too, but he got into all sorts of mischief with the computer and the bathroom, and his noise and activity meant that Matthew was popping on and off the breast constantly, eyes bugging with curiosity and stomach filling with air as he gulped back on every time! So that didn't work.
Anyway. His wakeful night last night meant that he had at least 2 extra feeds overnight, and he took those readily. He didn't want the second side most of the night because he was too sleepy, which is normal for Matthew at night, but I was glad of the extra opportunities to feed him.
Oh this is getting LONG and it's getting late! I haven't even written about Arthur yet! I think that will have to wait till yet another entry, but I will just write his weight and stuff. They were a bit crap at the clinic last time I wanted him weighed - they just popped him on the stand-on scales with his clothes, nappy and SHOES on! And said it wouldn't make much difference, and then plotted his weight on his chart and said, "Oh he's gone UP on the percentile chart! No need to breastfeed him any longer!" Tsk. So the day after his birthday, after we'd taken Matthew to the clinic, I put him naked on our digital scales and he weighed 28lbs exactly - back DOWN on the percentile chart to the same curve he'd been following before! He's just over the 60th percentile and has been since he turned one. I measured him carefully against the side of the fridge and he measures 34.5 inches (87.5cm) which puts him just above the 60th percentile for height too! There's this theory that if you double your son's height at age two (24 months), you'll get the height he'll be when he's fully grown. My mum swears by it - it worked for my brother, and the same is apparently true for girls if you measure their height at age 2.5 (30 months), and that was accurate for me too. Now that Arthur's finally two, I can test this theory! His 2-year height doubled would be 5ft 9in, so it's entirely possible that it will be accurate. I think Neil is 5ft 10, and my daddy is 5ft 9. I'm 5ft 3. Arthur definitely has my daddy's build with little short leggies! So I'm sure 5ft 9 could be a very accurate height for Arthur when he's fully grown. But waaaaaah, that's half a foot taller than ME!!! I can't imagine/cope with the idea of my tiny boys towering over me one day! But of course, it will happen. I choose not to think about that AT ALL just now! ;) I wonder what Matthew will measure at age 2?....
Arthur is currently wearing age 2 clothes, and has been since about 18 months old. Some of them are sized 18-24 months though - those that are more generously sized. He also wears plenty of age 2-3 clothes, and as I mentioned last entry, his head comfortably fits age 3-5 hats!!! My daddy has that large head too :) He needs his trouser legs rolling up on the age 2-3 sizes, as his legs are so little! He wears size 5.5 - 6 shoes - haven't had him measured in a while so it could be 6 now, but his current shoes are still size 5.5G. His wellies are size 6 and fit him really well.
Arthur has all his teeth but his back four molars - the two year old molars. Oh the joy of looking forward to THOSE babies breaking through. His canines broke through a few months ago but have taken ages to come through full-length. They seem HUGE and his other teeth are starting to crowd a bit. I hope his final molars don't crowd his other teeth toooo much. Both Neil and I have had trouble in our childhoods wiht overcrowded teeth. Urgh.
Okay Matthew stirs, so I must go. I'll write more next time, and post those other photos too!
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