Just when we think Calvin’s groovin’ in the nighttime routine, he changes his mind. Actually, I think he’s just had a lot of discomfort at night. Bellyachin’, toothin’, thirsty, a little congestion. Whew, you name it, and for the past week, SOMETHING’s gone a-muck.
I spoke with my friend at Spiritual Ramblings of a Christian Mommy and she gave me some good pointers. She suggested forgetting about the nighttime thing until we can get Calvin’s day schedule more nailed down. It’s mostly the same everyday, but we have to have him adapt to us sometimes so we can get things done. Otherwise, if we’re ALWAYS doing naptime at home (as opposed to in the carseat on those long errands), then, we can never leave the house. Since that’s not realistic, we do our best to keep him on a feeding, nap, and bedtime schedule as much as possible.
Anyway, after speaking with her, I realized there were a couple things I could do to help him out during the day. First, I wasn’t giving him enough solid food. I decided to feed him 3 times per day instead of just once. And, I also discovered yesterday, that the servings I was giving him weren’t equivalent to 1 oz. (before adding water). They were shy by at least 1/4 oz. We were reluctant to add more solids since we still wanted his bowel movements to be more regulated. I’ve been adding a little prune juice as a post meal chaser, and I’m pretty sure that’s helping him out. Instead of passing stool every 4 days, it’s now every other day. Pretty soon, I hope he’ll go every day and several times a day.
Also, I decided to quit pumping . . . for now. I always feel like I’m playing catch up with milk supply at feedings when I do this. AND, after I’d read to tank him up with feedings every 2 hours in late afternoon before bedtime, she mentioned that it might be training his body to THINK he needs to eat more frequently at night.
So, yesterday, he had solids at lunch and dinner. He was still hungry at dinner time, so I thawed out yet another cube of sweet potato. I was able to keep his nursing feeds to every 4 hours (a little longer at night) from 10:30AM on. He only ate every 4 or 5 hours last night, but he woke up every one or two hours beginning at 1:30AM. However, the comfort sucking reflex from the pacifier helped him go back to sleep . . . although it sucked for me to have to keep putting it back in when he woke up and to pat his chest until he relaxed. Steve thought Calvin was congested, so he hooked up the humidifier. I don’t see how having a humidifier helps when the windows are open (and it’s humid outside). But, we’ll see.
This morning, Calvin was in a much better mood than yesterday. We were all dragging like zombies yesterday . . . lack of posting this week is definitely related to the lack of sleep. But, Calvin let me know he needed to sit on the potty and he got a lot of stuff out of his system.
Steve made buckwheat pancakes for me (early Mother’s Day reward). And later today, he’s taking me shopping for either a dress and a button down blouse or something like that. It’s kinda for Mother’s Day, kinda to have some professional clothing appropriate for work that fits my post-partum body, and that I can wear while nursing.
So, stay tuned. I’ll post some great product reviews tomorrow and next week. More great news on nutrition, autism, organic food availability, giveaways coming soon on this site! Oh, and wish us well and keep us in your prayers, next week we’re headed down to Charlottesville so Steve can interview for jobs and we can look at retail spaces for starting up a practice. We are ANTSY about moving, Calvin having HIS OWN ROOM, and us having our own practice as soon as possible.
