Four weeks, (too many) diapers and eye contact.
Everyone says that time really flies when you have a baby and you really wish you cherished all those little moments that you didn’t really think would matter in the future. Like many new mothers out there, I was also a bit skeptical about the time flying (“Time flies. It flies when the baby’s sleeping.”) and I didn’t think four weeks would make a huge difference (“she’s an infant. How fast could she have grown in merely four weeks?”) I was wrong.
She still can’t hold her head up properly, but she struggles to do so (“Where are you going?”) She tries to “stand” by holding her head up and kicking, and although it doesn’t quite work yet, she constantly tried to wiggle herself out of our arms. A stubborn little girl we have. But the most interesting and fascinating part is the eye contact.
Of course, she has no idea what and who she’s looking at, although she may sense that it’s her mom or as simply a familiar scent/voice/touch, but she’s started to hold her gaze and stare for a couple of seconds. Her eyes would just roll around everywhere before, but now as she finally approached her fourth week, she can focus a bit more and longer, which makes the parents and grandma very, very excited.
The first hospital visit after her birth was on Monday and I don’t think we’ll be going to that one again. In Germany, you really need to search out for the right pediatrician, or any doctor for that matter. This depends on the style (modern, natural, new age, organic etc), language (German only, English, Spanish, Italian etc), location and the actual doctor. This can be very tiring and frustrating if you can’t find the right one. We’ve been to only one and it seems we need to search for some more until we find the right one. Sigh. After the hospital visit, we decided to try out our luck with brunching. And success, except the rushing out at the end because A was just not having it.
Her face is still clearing up from the baby acne, she’s growing heavier and taller, yet not sleeping too well. I first thought it would be colic, which is a baby stomach ache, but she’s not crying so I think it’s just her being fussy and not knowing how to sleep well. I don’t know how our mothers raised us all without having full access of the internet. Whenever something comes up, I’m on my phone, researching, reading blogs and comments and just acting like an addict. Recent searches include: baby acne, colic, baby poo (I feel like an expert on baby poo now. Show me a poo diaper and I can tell if it’s ok just by the smell…Good god.), when to start using baby pacifiers (at least one month), how to cut baby fingernails (I’m scared to do this) and baby baths.
BABY FEET. The cutest little things. Until next week!
If the baby doesn’t burp: try laying her down on her back, then on her belly and then try to burp her by holding her and patting her on the back. A seemed to have a hard time burping and this little trick worked, thanks to the pediatrician.- Baby colic can be detected by the 3-3 rule: the baby crying more than three hours a day for more than three days a week for three weeks. It happens to children between the ages two weeks and four months. The cause is unknown but of course there are assumptions: too much air from the bottles, drinking too fast etc. There are medications but A didn’t seem to be crying so much so we ruled out this possibility. There are several ways reduce the pain, including massaging the belly, medication, (if you are breastfeeding) not eating food that can cause allergies or gas and overall soothing your baby as much as possible. For more info, this was helpful.
All photos by rachelsanghee. Bits and pieces of my little one, every week, in 2016. 4/52 weeks.