6 months postpartum, 6 month baby update for baby #2
Lucy is 6 months old now! It flew by this time--I felt like the first few months of Otto's life took foreeeever. Things are definitely different with the second baby in a few other ways, too. With Otto I did some posts when he hit different milestones--1 month, 2 months, the fourth trimester, going back to work, 6 months. I really value those posts and enjoy looking back on them myself! So right now, I'm tired, I'm busy, I spend too much time at the computer... but I'm writing this post for future me if nothing else. Gotta document this special time.
(Here are the other Lucy milestones: 1 month, fourth trimester/going back to work.)
6 month old baby!
Lucy is more fun these days than ever before. The first 6 months are so hard. The first 2 months are REALLY hard, and after that it gets fun but hard. She's cute and smiley, loves putting anything in her mouth, loves talking to us/making eye contact. Like baby Otto at 6 months, she's calmed by music, she's working on sitting, and she sucks on her toes. Ha!
 |
| I took a similar picture of Otto at this age. I can totally see the resemblance but Lucy is much rounder and her ears stick out way less! |
She's not as good a sleeper as he was. (I take that back--it must be something we did.) She also had a 4 month sleep regression, but it started early and ended late and we felt like we tried everything. She had been doing pretty well months 2-3 with some longer stretches, but then started the frequent wakings again. (She was good at self-soothing as a newborn and I was so proud of myself--see my "drowsy but awake" tips here.) Tried the dream feed, but she would still wake up at 1am sometimes. Or 9:45pm, then 1am, then 3:30am, then 5:00 or 6:00... ugh. We did the Taking Cara Babies 3-4 month guide, which worked a few times but was exhausting (all the patting/shhhing/calming to see if they'll go to sleep before you offer an extra feed). Then around 5 months we finally did some sleep training, but that was dragging on forever, too. Then we tried the Taking Cara Babies ABCs of Sleep method and changed a few things we'd been doing, and did night weaning. (I fed Otto once/night from months 5 or 6 till 10!!! so I wasn't thinking we'd cut her middle of the night feed this early, but it worked and she's doing great, so... phew.) She's finally doing better, though she still wakes up crying for a few minutes and puts herself back to sleep around 2:00 or 3:00 most nights. But I shouldn't complain--she is now sleeping basically 7 to 7. That's incredible compared to Otto. (I wish I wasn't still so exhausted at 7 every morning, though!)
I should add that naps have gotten a MILLION times better since that last bit of sleep training. She was waking up after 40 mins most naps, and we'd wear her in the wrap to get her back to sleep (usually went back to sleep right away) to keep her on her schedule. Now she's had some very long naps on her own or cried then put herself right back to sleep. So great!
She is a great mover! She's sooo close to crawling, and is a proficient roller both ways. Beat her brother in that regard (I only know cause I just read his 6-month post).
We haven't started her on solid foods yet. Probably will very soon. I'd like her to be sitting on her own first, and also, we just don't have the time/capacity like we did with the first baby... we'll get there! Food at this point isn't supposed to be calories anyway; just playing and learning.
Around 5 months with Otto my supply was dipping and I blamed going back to work and not pumping as regularly, but it's happening again now and I work from home and feed her, so... ugh. It's stressful. She's getting hungrier and at some feeds, my milk doesn't quite keep up. I have a ton of pumped/Haakaa'd milk stored up from the past 6 months (my milk supply and breastfeeding in general were much better this time thanks to all this), and I've increased pumping during the day so I'm able to pump extra in the mornings when my boobs have it and then give it to her in the afternoon or evening when she's not satisfied by just nursing. It's great that we have options like that but I still feel frustrated and inadequate sometimes.
6 month postpartum update
As for me... "getting my body back" (simplistic phrase, not great) was MUCH easier with the first baby. I lost all the baby weight without doing a thing, and I think. it look less than 2 months (read about my postpartum weight loss here and strength here). This time I'm still up 7-10 pounds over my pre-baby weight. I actually did some macro-counting starting around 8 weeks postpartum and lost 4-5 pounds. Got real tired of tracking my food in MyFitnessPal when I have so many other things to do these days! Then I gained a couple back in January... I blame stress-eating dark chocolate and granola instead of snacking on deli turkey. My pre-baby jeans and clothes all fit fine, so I'm not sure where the 10 pounds are... probably lost muscle again, the worst! And just extra belly fat still, but that's always the first place I hold weight.
I'd love to have a flatter belly but obviously have other priorities!!
There we are, 6 months in! Looking forward to when Lucy is walking and communicating more and can play by herself a bit longer, but also soaking up the snuggles and cuddling with her in the carrier while I do stuff around the house. I feel like I'm handling having two little ones for now. It's still hard!
No comments
Post a Comment