no distress

Today, for the first time ever, Vivian did not seem distressed when she had a BM! A few times, her diaper was dirty, and she cried when it was dirty, but not while she was going. She was pretty happy all day. Hopefully this non-fussy trend will continue!

Maaaa

Vivian definitely has a different sounding cry from Sophie. Sophie always cried out "Ha-lal, Ha-lal" and did a little lamblike trill.

Vivian just cries out, "Maaaaa, Maaaaaaa".

She is having increased periods of wakefulness and looking around. She fascinated looking at herself in the mirror. She also smiles when you tickle her cheek.

She is really HATING the pacifier more and more and will only tolerate it if she is already very, very sleepy and has only the slightest need for suckling.

Video

This was when Vivian was 1 or 2 wks old.

The Worst is over?

I stopped drinking milk 2 weeks ago and perhaps now we are reaping the benefits. Today was a landmark day. Vivian was awake for almost 3 hours with no crying and screaming - only fussed when she wanted to be held. But she was alert and looking around, fixing her eyes on things around her, watching Sophie and Nate play together and being generally pleasant. It was weird.

We went out to dinner, and she was awake in the carseat, quiet, looking around. We are just not used to her being awake, not held, and not crying.

I think she might even be starting to smile a little! She gets fussy when her bowels move and seems to be distressed when she has a dirty diaper on. Sophie never seemed to care if her diaper was dirty or not. (even at 2 she barely cares!)

Projectile Vomit

Vivian does many things Sophie never did - like projectile vomit a LOT of milk, more than it seems her little stomach could even hold!

I've discontinued drinking milk of any kind and her fussiness has improved dramatically. But today, I ate peanut butter, which I haven't eaten in a long time, and tonight, it looked like she vomited the entire contents of her week's worth of feedings! The only way to calm her down after she stopped nursing was to put her in the baby sling, and walk around the block. Did I mention it is 10pm and a full moon?

She also has a nasty case of diaper rash - it looks like welts of red sunburn on her butt. Sophie never had diaper rash.

Gripe water

Vivian's baby acne keeps getting worse - in 2 days, she will be 5 weeks old. She is staying awake longer and longer periods of time during the day, and still feeding every 2-3 hours. Sometimes she stays awake as long as one hour, and she is really looking around a lot.

We got some gripe water, and it really seems to be helping with her fussiness. When she has a BM, there is not as much air in it as before. The Gripe water is just fennel and ginger extract and apparently, in India, they feed it to every baby at every feeding.