2 Month Postpartum Update

Week 5

At 5 weeks old I took Harry on his first road trip to meet his extended family. He met his great grandma and granddad, his great nanna and lots of great aunties, uncles, cousins and second cousins. 

My family live in Lancashire and Lincolnshire, so I learned some pretty valuable lessons whilst travelling coast to coast and back again with a one month old. From changing nappies on the front seat of the car to breast feeding at the side of the road, we've pretty much done it all now. 

Going away with a new baby early and getting on with things is essentially a baptism of fire when it comes to learning the baby care ropes, but it was the best thing ever for helping me build confidence as a new parent. Multiple sink baths and improvised sleeping arrangements later,|Harry and I can cope with pretty much anything.  

In terms of development, Harry can hold things in his fists, though not without persuasion. Little rings are pretty effective for grip practice :)

Week 6 

Back home and Harry started to smile on cue much more often during week 6. There's definitely something special about a baby smile...what could possibly be so amusing to someone with no concept of amusement?? 

Harry gets weighed at his 6 week check and is now 11lb 2oz. Tank.

Week 7

Harry starts to sleep for longer chunks of time this week as we establish something of a routine (I use this word loosely as I still in fact have little control over the kid's agenda). It starts with 4 hours, then 5 in a row and I start to see the light.

Week 8

The week of SLEEP. First 6 hours in a row and then 7- 10pm to 5am. I literally forgot what it was like to not see 3am and life feels great. I put it down to a combination of things, including his age and weight, but offering a dummy during the night instead of a feed really helped Harry to break his association at 1am and 3am with feedings. If you'd like to read more about the tactics I've adopted to help my newborn sleep through the night, head back in a week or two as I'll be writing a full post on our progress at 12 weeks old.

My Recovery

If you read my first postpartum update you'll know that my initial recovery went pretty smoothly. Fast forward four more weeks and I'm feeling almost back to normal. 

Post partum hair loss is a total bitch and I had thought for a while that I was going to get to keep this thick wig I've developed. Sadly, this is not the case.

I'm still exclusively breastfeeding Harry and so I'm finding I need to eat a little extra than I did pre-pregnancy to maintain my usual weight. Pass the Battenberg mate. 

Catch up with you at our 3 month update in a couple of weeks.

Kathy

xx