Four Months! I can’t believe it. Life with Evelyn is starting to feel normal and it’s getting easier to do things out of the house. Evelyn is such a fun baby. Always giggling and smiling. She is LOVING the Christmas Tree – she likes to grab the branches and look at the lights. She’s also recently discovered she can grab her feet and never wants to let go!
Her Stats:
Length: 26 and 1/4 inches!!
Weight: 13lbs, 8oz
We’re still struggling keeping her asleep at night. However, we just had her 4 month appointment and mentioned she seems to still be struggling with gas. We’ve been using “gas drops” but apparently that’s for burps not tummy gas and we should have been using gripe water. AHHHHHH. We started using Mommy’s Bliss day & nighttime gripe water and are seeing a huge difference in her being able to sleep for longer stretches. Unfortunately she HATES the taste and it’s a huge fight to get her to take it and it’s a huge dose. I always feel awful giving it to her although she feels so much better afterwards. (If there’s another brand of gripe water that you momma’s use that your baby doesn’t mind the taste please let me know!)
Sleep: This week she’s started going down in her bassinet better. We added a musical mobile which seems to help settle her in and she’s just started taking a pacifier to soothe her to sleep as well. Between those updates and the gas updates we are hoping longer stretches of sleep come soon… however, then there’s the 4 month sleep regression everyone warns you about… Right now we usually get one 4 hour stretch of sleep and then we’re up ever 2 hours after that.
Skin: We had wanted to give her first taste of solids over Christmas when her grandparents were out but because of the eczema we’re holding off. The no dairy seems to be helping but it’s still a struggle trying to keep her rash under control so we want to get a hold on that before introducing foods. The mild steroid cream did clear up her skin. You have to do 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Currently, we’re on the week off and I feel like i’ve done a good job keeping her skin as under control as I can. What seems to be helping: Cerave cream (i’ve tried Tubby Todd, Mustela, Honest, Aveno Eczema, Burts Bees, Cetaphil & Aquafor). The Dr. also gave me a prescription strength Cerave sample (non-steroid) which did seem to help so I may bite the bullet and start paying for that. I read that putting the lotion on when the baby is just pulled from the tub, still wet, not towel dried yet helps. I’ve started doing that the last few days, Tim lifts her up, I lube her up, then towel, then pat dry and more lotion, then I wait to dress her for it to soak in (a few minutes) then I put her in LOOSE clothing. So this crazy OCD routine seems to be working for now. I’m also going to try introducing a few drops of lavender oil into her bath and see if that helps soothe the redness.
4 Month Postpartum Update:
So at first, breaking up with dairy was sad news as my sister and I religiously made our 4PM cheese plates (whoops!). However, since being off dairy it’s actually been pretty easy. I’m sure it’ll be harder when I i’m back at work but for these last few weeks at home, preparing meals for myself has gone OK. Most things that require butter are easy to substitute olive oil for. I also seem to be losing weight now that i’ve cut dairy out. I was able to wear a pair of pants that didn’t fit a few weeks ago. So we’ll see…
If you missed last week’s post, I shared some of my favorite dairy free meals, you can check that out here: https://mariapelletier.com/dairy-free-meal-plan/
As you’re reading this it’ll be my first day back at work. The past two weeks I’ve been having babysitter interviews and I have found a few girls I like. I’ve been having my top choices over this week to have them shadow me and then they’ll start next week. My sister is still here and knowing she’ll be home to help the sitters with the transition my first week back gives me a lot of comfort. Even though these girls seem fine there’s just so much trust in driving away and leaving your baby with practically a stranger. I’m going to write a post specific to finding a nanny/sitter and some tips to hopefully help all you mommas-to-be reading le blog 🙂
But back to Going Back To Work, I’ve been fighting off tears all weekend so I can only imagine how hard Monday morning will be. If you’re a co-worker reading this, please ignore my sniffles in the corner during our meetings this week…
Now i’m off to try on my clothes and see what I can squeeze into and how to make leggings look work appropriate… kidding… sort of….
Xo,
M