19 Weeks and Rolling

This doesn't really matter, buuuuut...

Isaiah did his first roll a few weeks ago, front to back... and then never really rolled again.  I don't "encourage" these things, as they'll happen on their own time.  Noah did everything early (which I was proud of, even though it seriously does. not. matter.), but I just haven't cared when Isaiah does things.

Anyway, today he is exactly 19 weeks old (I had to go to the calendar and count, because I had no idea how many weeks old he was) just shy of 4.5 months, and something suddenly clicked.  He was a rolling fool.  Not just front to back, but lots of back to front.  He's been on the verge of this for a week or so, because he rolled from his back to his side reeeally well.  Today was the day he completed the task.

He was so proud of himself.

On to things that do matter:

The most kissable cheeks in the world, I tell you.

Love that kid.

Oh, and today we discovered that Isaiah seems to be really tilting his head to the right.  I'm not worried about it (I could almost swear that when he was a newborn he always tilted his head to the opposite direction... I'm not positive on that though), but I am going to be taking him to the chiropractor again for it.  We haven't been to the chiro since October, I think.  Time for another few trips!  Like I said, I'm not worried about it because I'm looking back at other pictures I took, and as recently as January 27 he had no noticeable head tilt (every picture I've taken since then he was laying down, and he doesn't have a noticeable tilt when he's laying down).  So, it's fairly recent, but still worth some attention.  

I Think I Figured Out the Grunting

I am 95% positive that I know why Isaiah grunts so much (and, in retrospect, why Noah grunted so much).  I actually figured it out last week.

I believe it's a combination of a super fast letdown and oversupply.  These two things are connected, because an oversupply generally causes a fast letdown.

My fast letdown causes Isaiah to gulp a lot of air while he's nursing, creating a lot of gas.

The oversupply means he's taking in a lot of a foremilk.  Foremilk is high in lactose.  When a baby gets too much lactose in his stomach, it ferments and causes painful gas.

After researching it, this makes the most sense.  We fit almost every symptom, including crazy fast weight gain for the baby - Isaiah was 8lbs 12oz, completely naked, on his due date (18 days old... he was 7lbs exactly when he was born).  He was 7lbs 11oz at 12 days old.  That means he gained 17oz in 6 days.

Ummm, yeah.  Holy cow.

We're still seeing the chiropractor (had our fourth visit today), because while the spine issues aren't causing the stomach pain, the stomach pain is likely feeding back to the spine and causing issues there. The four spots on his spine that were out on his first visit keep being tight again on every visit, whereas every other issue he had has resolved.  However, that section of his spine is improving (I even noticed this prior to the visit), so we'll continue with weekly chiropractor visits for awhile.

Basically, there's not a lot I can do.  We both just need time.  My boobs need time to calm down, so they're not letting down quite so fast and so that they're producing milk on a supply/demand basis instead of a "HOORAY!  WE GET TO MAKE MILK AGAIN!!!  LET'S GET 'ER DONE!!" basis.  Isaiah needs time for his system to mature.  He needs time before he'll be able to handle a fast letdown (ironically, usually this tends to happen around the time that you're not letting down so quickly anymore).

What I am doing is reclining while feeding him, so my letdown isn't attacking him as ferociously and he isn't gulping quite so much air.  Block nursing is recommended in these situations, but I already feed him exclusively from my right side because my left side is almost twice as fast as my right side - 7 holes for the milk to come out of as opposed to 4.  (Noah nurses on my left side 3 times a day, which will maintain that side's ability to produce milk until Isaiah is ready to take that side).

I'm not sure if either of those things are really helping, but at least I'm trying.  I'm trying to remember when Noah grew out of the grunting, but I really don't remember.  I can't wait for it to be done.  Not only because it's so disturbing to my sleep, but because I feel bad that he's just so darn uncomfortable!

In the meantime, Isaiah is in his own room and we finally got a video monitor so that I don't have to get out of bed to see whether he's really awake or just being loud.  Last night was our first night with it and man, it sure made my life a lot easier.

Finally, because he's just so freaking cute, here's my little monkey at 3.5 weeks old:

Being burped, of course.

The Grunter

Ugh.  I adore my babies to pieces, but why do I breed such LOUD grunters?  Everyone thought Noah was the loudest grunter they had ever encountered.  I am pretty sure Isaiah has passed him.

The chiropractor didn't work.  We went back today for one more visit, but I'm convinced it's a waste of money in the grunting department.  The spots that were adjusted last week were all tight again today (I could even feel a big difference before and after), but Isaiah has been as grunty as ever after both appointments, so I don't think that's what's making him grunty in the first place.

Isaiah is now in his own room, unfortunately.  This is not very restful for me.  His grunting is SO LOUD.  It's the same volume as if he were screaming from hunger.  Actually, I think it's actually louder.  So I can hear all of it over the monitor, except the quieter,  normal-volume newborn grunts, and since he's not in my room I have to actually go across the hall to see if he's awake or not.  It's definitely not an ideal situation, but when he's in my room I can't get ANY sleep.

I seriously never know whether he's awake or asleep.  He grunts SO MUCH.  All the time.  And it gets worse as the night goes on.  Both Justin (who sleeps like a rock) and I were awake from pretty much 4:30am onward because the scream-grunts were incessant.

I just ordered a friggin expensive video monitor.  At least that will save me from the many trips to his room in the middle of the night to figure out if he's awake or not.

The only patterns I notice are:

-The grunting is worse when it's been many hours since his last poop.  I think this is why it's so much worse at night - he's usually not pooping at night anymore.

-It seems to be at its worst when he's lying on his back and swaddled.  Unfortunately if he's not swaddled he doesn't sleep more than 10 minutes.  He's not as grunty if he's sleeping in someone's arms or if he's lying on our chests.

I don't think there's anything I can do except wait it out.  Today I'm attempting to go dairy-free, though.  I really think it's a long shot in our particular situation, especially since I don't have a lot of dairy to begin with.  I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up, considering I'm not convinced that it's going to help.  He doesn't have any other signs of a dairy sensitivity.  But I'm sleep deprived and desperate.  So I'll try it.

Because this picture makes me laugh.

Some Firsts for Isaiah

It was a big day today for 12 day old Isaiah.

First haircut.
(I promised myself after Noah's hair fell out in such a ridiculous pattern that if I didn't like my next child's hair, I would cut it sooner rather than later... and I'm glad I did!  For some reason both of my children were born with long hair on the sides, back, and crown of their heads, and really short hair right on the top.  Silly.)

First visit to the chiropractor.
(He immediately found 5 "problem" spots, 4 of which are directly related to the stomach, so hopefully things will improve over the weekend.  I take Isaiah back on Tuesday for a checkup.)

A bath
(Not his first, but still...)

Hopefully tonight he'll be a little less grunty so I can get more than a couple of hours of sleep!

12 days old