I was really good about documenting certain stages with Charlie and McKenna including their feeding schedules, sleep, milestones they were achieving, and overall what the heck I was doing at each stage when they were babies. This is one of the best parts of having a blog: being able to look back at your own personal diary and remind yourself how things go! I promised myself that I would write about the newborn phase this time around so that when we have our fourth (I know, how am I already talking about this?), I can refer back. Although at that point, I’ll probably feel like a seasoned pro.

The newborn phase is both very special and hard, but as a brand new mom, it can feel like a total shit show. Pardon my language… but going from 0 kids to 1 was the biggest transition for me and looking back, I was truly lost. Even with all the books, pep talks, and mental preparation, there was no way to truly prepare myself to have a baby. You just don’t know until you know. Even with my experience with young kids, I suffered a bit of anxiety and blues when Charlie was born. Brand new babies make you feel a thousand emotions at once.

Now that I have toddlers, the newborn phase isn’t scary to me at all. I just power through. The stress I have now is where I can set the baby down safely to use the bathroom without my toddlers being able to reach and accidentally knock him down when trying to kiss him. There is so much love in this house, but no sense of caution or safety.

As a third child, Jack is already learning that while all his needs are met, they aren’t always immediate. When you have three that are three and under, you have a lot of needy little individuals and sometimes everyone has to cry for a bit. So Jack is already learning slowly and surely to settle on his own. This has helped me a lot in the sleep department. If you have been following me for a while, you may remember I worked with my friend Kate from @bumble.baby when McKenna was born. One of the lessons I’ll never forget is when she explained that babies sometimes need to “settle” which essentially means cry and adjust themselves on their own. When Charlie was a baby, I ran to pick him up every time he cried in the middle of the night. With Jack, I give him a minute or two to settle. Half the time he stops crying and just looks around or falls asleep. If he doesn’t, then I address all the reasons a baby may cry like dirty diaper, hunger, gas, or the need to be rocked and loved a bit.

I have also been following Mom’s on Call pretty religiously. Getting Jack fed every 3 hours and a bath before bed is part of our routine. I adjust the timing sometimes to fit with my toddler’s schedules and it all works out. He gets 6 feedings during the day and usually wakes up twice! I am currently breastfeeding but will often offer a formula bottle before bed and pump. I’m not sure how long my journey will be but I want to have a supply of breastmilk to last a month or two after I finish, so I’ve been building my supply in the freezer.

I’ve talked about silver linings a lot lately and I think that’s just how I deal with hard things. I like to focus on the positive. Because I had a rough delivery and my recovery hasn’t been what I expected, I’ve been forced to slow down and spend a lot of time off my feet. My baby carrier was my most-loved baby item with my first two but I’ve barely used it this go around. And the blessing in that is that Jack has learned that he has to nap flat on his back and never really on me. Sure, we snuggle and I’ll hold him while he sleeps, but not for pro-longed periods of time. So why is this a blessing? Because Jack goes right to bed in his bassinet without really squirming. When Charlie was a baby, I couldn’t set him down. It was so stressful and then bedtime was paci pong forever (pacifier in the mouth, baby dropping paci, baby crying, mommy putting paci back in… paci falling back out)…

So, what is our schedule like? What are our most loved baby items? What does a day in the life look like?

This is my current feeding schedule per Mom’s on Call 2-4 weeks:

6-7am: feed

9am: feed

12pm: feed

3pm: feed

6pm: feed

8:30pm: bath

9pm: feed

In between all of those are naps with the longest ones usually being between the 9-6pm feeds. Each day baby Jack becomes a little more alert and I savor that time that he spends awake during the DAY in hopes that means he isn’t alert at bedtime. At night, he will usually do at least one 4 hour stretch of sleep.

My most-loved baby items are pretty much the same as they were with my others except I’ve added a swing to my rotation that I did not use with McKenna but had when Charlie was a baby too. I also have been using a new portable breast pump that has been a game changer for me! I’ll be writing a full review on it soon.

I love the Angelcare bathtub because it’s perforated and therefore, doesn’t mold like the first bathtub we had. I love Tommee Tippee bottles and our boppy lounger. A friend gave us the softest baby blanket EVER and it turns on they sell it at Costco… if only they a bigger size, I would seriously purchase as a throw for our couch. I also swear by a good swaddle. Jack doesn’t sleep in pajamas, but instead, two swaddles. I swaddle him in a blanket and then put a velcro swaddle or “wombie” over that.

Other newborn essentials include our beloved sound machine, baby monitor, and this drying rack for bottles!

I am so exhausted these days but soaking up all these sweet snuggles from my littles. So tired and happy all at once. I will be writing a post on transitioning to three in a bit but right now, we are still figuring it out!

 

mom's on call 2-4 week schedule newborn phase