The (sleepless) 4th Month

Ohh the fourth month. Hands down the most challenging month yet, and all because of one thing: lack of sleep. Obviously all mamas expect to lose sleep in the newborn days, and most likely you’re on maternity leave. You hang out in your PJ’s, shower at noon, maybe cash in on everyone’s advice “sleep when the baby sleeps.” and of course, a new baby is just bliss.  But for your baby to sleep semi-well for 7 weeks, then WHAM all the sudden not sleep? AND you have to go to work the next morning? That completely blindsided me, and to be honest, left me feeling worse for wear all month. I definitely had a meltdown or two and lost confidence in my ability to mother. I spiraled myself into reading sleep blogs and questioning EVERYTHING we were doing. It was really, really tough.

Fortunately I had some adrenaline to run on because it was baby’s first Christmas. I mean, I was making outfit lists and coordinating plans weeks in advance. I was so excited about Christmas, and I gave myself some grace (thanks for that line Darby). Decorating and over-the-top gift giving/wrapping was just not important. All that mattered was Coral’s first Christmas! And me surviving zombie-mode.

Anywho I'll stop rambling. But to all first time moms, the 4-month-sleep regression is definitely not a joke. Hopefully I'll get my act together to implement a routine followed by some sleep training. 

and some stats to remember:

• 14 lbs 7 oz, 26 inches long. 60th percentile for weight, and 95th for height!
• size 3 diapers 
• 3-6 m clothes are too short. 6-9 m are a little baggy and need to be cuffed

Coral's likes:

• bath time! she loves to splash
• mirrors
• fingers! staring at them while moving them, sucking them, chewing them. Holding onto our fingers. her hand movements just make me melt daily.
• mam teething ring. putting everything in her mouth.
• being sung too. she loveeeees music. 
• getting out of the house. Coral is much more calm in new places. 

Coral's dislikes:

• getting dressed
• cold milk. 
• eating in the morning 
• playing by herself

Sleep: mostly bad. lol. co-sleeping from midnight to the am. in crib all other times/naps. Although it              has recently gotten better, this post is late and it happened in the 5th month. (to get technical)

Eating: 

• Still breastfeeding, and supplementing 4 oz of formula a day. We give her two half and half bottles a day basically. 
• This helps me not feel so stressed if I miss a pumping session, and eases my mind that she can take formula if needed for an emergency situation. I also can quit pretty easily when I decide to end our journey. Supplementing has overall taken the stress out of breastfeeding/pumping for me. 

Milestones: 

• giggles. not laughing spontaneously, but we can sure make her laugh if we tickle her! 
• sitting up with support very well. great head control. 
• her movements just became so fluid this month.

Mom & Dad:

• Matt has turned into superdad this month. I finally broke down and asked for him to step it up, since naturally I was carrying a lot of the load on maternity leave. Once I went to work I just needed way more help. Especially since pumping is quite the ordeal. 
• on the topic of pumping: exclusive pumpers deserve a serious shout-out. I tried to pump / bottle feed coral breastmilk very consistently when I went back to work. even on weekends and holiday breaks. She had developed a snacking habit when nursing and we just needed to get her out of that mode. and once she got it, I didn't want to go backwards.