Well, I literally blinked and we are 12 weeks into life with our sweet baby boy. I don’t remember the newborn phase flying by as quickly as this one has seemed to, but I’m sure it has something to do with the busyness of life with two other kiddos to keep up with. The 12 week mark has always made me feel settled in to life with the baby and we have developed a nice new rhythm for our family of 5.

Griffin is truly such a SWEET baby and a delight to our family. He makes the most adorable little noises and is so smiley. Weeks 4-7 were the most challenging with a combination of him being a little more fussy than normal and not sleeping well. It was around week 7 I realized he was swallowing a lot of air when he nursed so we made a few adjustments (sitting him more upright, pulling him off the breast during the let down and keeping him upright for 15-20 minutes post feeding) and it made SUCH a big difference in both his temperament and sleeping. One thing that I’ve learned now that I am more of a “seasoned mother” is that when in doubt, a good burp for a new baby really makes a world of difference most of the time 😉

We moved him into the crib in his room at 9 weeks and it has been a smooth transition so far. We are using the MIku monitor (I’ll be writing a post about it soon) and that was a huge help in giving me the peace of mind I needed to move him out of the room since he is on the opposite end of the house from us now. In our old home, our kids room was right next to ours so I never really even needed a monitor.

Speaking of sleep, we typically put him down for bed around 7 PM and he’ll usually sleeps until 2, and then wakes up again around 5. He seems to struggle to fall back asleep after that 5 AM feeding and I think it may have to do with the fact that he tends to get stuffy/congested during the night and by that time, its at its worst. I think the stuffiness is due to a dairy sensitivity and him spitting up while lying down. I cut out dairy around week 9 to see if that helped clear up some dry and rough spots on his cheeks and it certainly helped. I don’t know for sure if he is allergic or just needs more time for his digestive system to be able to tolerate it a little better…but i did see improvement while not consuming it. I have added a little bit of dairy back into my diet here and there this last week, but I’m thinking I may need to cut it out all together again. So much of these first few months of having a baby really feel like a guessing game at times, thats for sure!

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As for me, I have recovered well and overall, adding a third child to our family has been a good transition. The greatest blessing of having a baby in a pandemic has been the rest of the world being on a more slow pace of life like we are. Not having to hustle and bustle around with the kids to all of their activities has allowed us all to slow down and ease into our new normal. Also, having Dwight home more often has been so helpful. He will often take the older two during the early morning hours when they get up so I can get a little extra sleep. Not being a morning person, it has made all the difference for me…and he will bring me back coffee from our favorite place, which is a nice treat to wake up to after a long night.

I also wanted to share a few of my favorite postpartum items. I really don’t think there are many things that are a MUST have, but here are a few items (including a pad recommendation…because no one talks about those and we all have to have them) I have used and liked:

Nursing Tank: I don’t like a tight “shaping” tank, mainly because I hate tugging on the bottom of the hem to keep it from rolling up around the waist, so I appreciate that this one is more of a true cotton. It comes in several color options but black and white have always met my needs .

Nursing friendly pajamas: I wore these while pregnant as well and they are THE BEST pajamas hands down. Buttery soft and the snap front closure is nice and deep so you can easily nurse. Size up as they shrink in the dryer.

My favorite cotton underwear: I like that these are inexpensive undies you don’t mind messing up, for the obvious reasons I don’t need to go into here 🙂 They are nice and breathable and I appreciate the thicker waistband that is the same material as the actual panty. They also aren’t as tight around your legs/butt which is a big pet peeve of mine with underwear. I recommend buying them a size larger than you normally would and they do shrink a bit in the dryer.

The best thin maxi pad. Unfortunately theres no way around it…wearing a pad for almost 6 weeks straight is the worst. This one has been my go to and I’ve used it with all three recoveries. Thin yet long with great absorbency. I don’t love the wings but I wasn’t able to find one without wings I liked as much. Sometimes I just tuck them under the pad rather than wrapping them around the underwear.

A good concealer. The only thing that makes you look somewhat awake despite not sleeping and it is the one item of makeup I will wear if I’m not putting on anything else. Dark under eye circles make me feel haggard so this is more so for my mental health than my physical appearance 😉 Must apply with a damp beauty blender otherwise it goes on too thick. I wear shade light.

Self tanning drops for your face. This is first time I’ve used a self tanner postpartum and similarly to my comment above, it made me feel better waking up with a little bit of color on my face. This is especially true in those first few days after delivery. I don’t know if its the loss of blood combined with not sleeping hardly at all those first few nights in the hospital but I lose every bit of color in my face during that time.

Neck/Shoulder relaxer. I don’t currently own this but still wanted to include it on my list. I saw Kathleen Jennings share about this recently for “tech neck” and thought it would be so helpful for nursing moms too. Craning my neck for hours on end while nursing and then all the diaper changes always leaves me with aches and pains in my neck and shoulders. Ive ended up in the chiropractors office with my last two babies and while I have found that letting my head hang off the end of the bed is a good stretching exercise, this looks like a slightly more comfortable way to achieve the same results.

Blaire

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