Julie and Brayden Update: 3 Months

Feedings:  Babies are still drinking about 4 ounces of milk, about every three hours during the day and go about 5-7 hours without milk overnight.  We do one formula bottle every night and I am pumping around every 6 hours.  The midnight bottle still gets about 1 T of rice cereal.  In general, not much has changed with their feeding in the past month, except that Julie occasionally seems to forget how to drink.  She has seemed to stopped with the projectile split-up, which is super.

Daytime: Babes are spending more and more time awake during the day.  This is good for babies, but tough for Mamma.  They’re both pretty pleasant and seem to finally have realized that there’s a second baby in their midst.  Brayden has liked to be held quite a bit lately, and we’re getting better at pacifying them both.  Both babies have discovered their hands, and are able to gnaw on their fingers for a little self soothing.  Favorite toys include the Swing, the Play Gym, the crib animation toy, the Winkle and the Glow Seahorses.  Babies also just got Bumbo seats, have been introduced to their Sophie the Giraffes, and Wubbanubs.   We typically feed around Midnight, 6:00 am, 9 am, noon, 3, 6, and 9.  

Nighttime:  This is the biggest change to report!  Both babies are sleeping in their cribs almost full time.  They are able to be put down while awake, and put themselves to sleep after eating.  The babes rarely wake up in the middle of the night, and are even able to share a crib without disturbing each other.  What HUGE strides we have made this month!

Schedule:  While there’s still not a whole lot of a schedule, we’re getting a little more regular with patterns.  Here’s where we currently stand:

6:30 a.m. – 4 oz bottle, then back to sleep

9 a.m. – 2-3 oz of milk, then back to sleep (Mamma stays up and cleans)

Noon – 4 oz bottle and start the day

3 p.m. – 4 oz bottle and a nap

6 p.m. – 4 oz bottle

9 p.m. – 4 oz bottle (Julie typically crashes in her swing at this point)

11:30 p.m. – Bottle and Bedtime

12:15 a.m. – SLEEP

Outings and Events:  Leaving the house has been made easier with my extension in times between pumping.  I feel like we can leave for more than a three hour stretch!  We have gone to the museum, multiple trips to the grocery store, Grammy’s House, multiple consignment sales and Grove City.  Apparently my babies love to shop because they typically sleep through the entire experience without a peep.  I am one lucky mamma!

Milestones:  Babies are much better at “self soothing” during the night and can put themselves to sleep.  They’ve both discovered their hands and use it instead of a pacifier frequently.  Both seem to have more purposeful smiling, when you enter the room and talk to them.  We’ve begun to outgrow our 0-3 months clothes and fit nicely into 3-6 month outfits.  Brayden’s hair has grown back almost completely!  Julie loves to play in the bathtub and kicks like crazy to splash her mommy.  We’ll often leave her legs uncovered which she loves to give her kicks.  We’re finally getting past the “colic” stage and hopefully by next month will be done with nightly crying sessions completely.