Living la vida loca

It has been almost four weeks now, but for some reason Spud has not settled into a routine yet. With Spud, every day is unpredictable. Just as we thought we could get some form of pattern to work with, she changes her schedule. No 2 days are the same so far, hence it makes it a little bit more challenging for us to identify a routine, if any.

Perhaps, we are just a bad case of new parents, but I wonder if not settling in a routine is normal for a 3 and half week old baby?

Spud’s a booby monster when it comes to breastfeeding. Her hours are erratic. She seems to want to nurse every hour, on the hour with extended time; especially in the last 2 weeks. Somehow, she doesn’t seem to have enough, and I get no break from just feeding her round the clock. People say that a baby knows when she has had enough, and they will automatically unlatch from the breasts. Not Spud though…if I don’t unlatch her, she’s quite capable of a marathon feeding!

Sometimes I wonder if I don’t make enough milk, but from the looks of it, she seems to have a healthy dose of diapers and even started spitting up milk! I used to have to supplement with formula in her first 2 weeks (also as advised by the doctor here!). I was not producing enough milk then and she got dehydrated. I have now recently gone exclusively breast milk in the last week or so (yay!). At night though, we give her breast milk in the bottle so Dad could feed too or I’ll go crazy!

Some days she will nap, some days she just refuses to nap. Some nights, she’ll wake up just once or twice; and some nights she’ll stretch her waking hours to up to 4 hours at a stretch, a combo of wailing, fussing, feeding and diaper change several times. I wonder if other babies are just as unpredictable.

From what I have heard, read and researched, it would be good to put babies on a schedule, also to just limit 15 minutes per breast. But there is also another school of thought where it is not worth trying to set a routine in the first few months. Instead, be led by the baby's needs, especially so when the baby is being breastfed. In this case, let the baby empty out one breast and let them have a go at it for as long as they need to instead of setting a time limit.

All these conflicting theories are confusing me that I don’t know what is the best way for her. If I don’t set a time limit on the breast, she’ll be on it 24/7, I might as well staple her to my boobs. I don’t know how much of this craziness will last and if she ever will show some form of routine. I guess, for us, it is a matter of trial and error.

I need a concoction of the chill pill and the 'be patient' vitamins.Plenty of it!