Stumped

When Charlotte was born, they told us it would take between 2 and 21 days for her cord stump to fall off. I was starting to wonder when the dang thing would come off and told Ben I'd call her pediatrician if it wasn't off by Monday (Day 22). Well, right on time, it fell off on Sunday! Look at my girl's beautiful belly button!

I've also started putting Charlotte down on her tummy a couple of times each day. She likes to lay on her tummy on people and will pick her head up and move it around, so I figured I'd see how she'd do on the floor on her own... not the same! She'll put up with it for about 5 minutes, but then she gets frustrated. She does appreciate the change in perspective... it's like seeing everything from the cats' point-of-view! 

Things are going really well at the 3-week mark! I wouldn't call it perfect at all, but we've made improvements in the nighttime sleeping situation. I understand why some people warn against offering bottles to breastfed babies, but let me tell you how it works for us... 

In the evenings, I pump about 4-6 oz for a "relief bottle" (that's what our pediatrician's office calls it). It relieves me of feeding duties for 6+ hours, and it fills her belly at night so she's able to sleep for longer periods of time. Ben feeds her half of the bottle at bedtime (sometime between 9 and 10 right now) while I read books to her. Then Ben takes over getting her to sleep while I get some "time off" (last night I took a shower and flossed my teeth!!). The second half of the bottle is given at her first wake-up. You can tell when Charlotte is hungry, because she tries to eat her hands (or her arms, or other people's arms!) 

Sometimes it's enough to satisfy her and she goes back to sleep, sometimes it's not. She usually wakes up between 12:30 and 2:30, then sleeps again until 4:30 - 5:30... after that, I have a really hard time putting her back down. We usually end up snuggling in bed (and dozing on and off) until 8 or 9.

Those first 3 or 4 hours that she sleeps are awesome! After that, she's up for changing and feeding for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours... Of course the 2 hour awake sessions in the middle of the night are not my favorite. If any of you mommy readers have tips for helping extend her nighttime sleeps (or at least shorten her nighttime wakes), I'm all ears!  

The best part of the "relief bottle" is the special bonding time Ben gets with Charlotte. Our bedtime routine is my favorite time of day!