3 month old baby girl

Our little girl is now three months old, which seems young and old at the same time. I have two months left of maternity leave and it has been amazing to watch her grow so far. She is becoming more fun and interactive.
She smiles.

She recognizes herself in the mirror.

She has a few favorite toys, including this colorful Manhattan Toys rattle and this Infantino owl that makes a twinkling noise and can strap onto a stroller.

Schedule

Mostly, she sleeps, eats, and plays. I’m not super-strict on a schedule and she naturally created a loose one on her own. My main motivation for trying to keep a schedule – especially a bedtime – is to promote good sleep habits. So, it makes sense to start the schedule by thinking about bedtime. Every day is different and I don’t force any of these times, but this is a typical day:

• 8:30pm – 9:30pm / bedtime activities and nurse
• 9:30pm – 1:00am / sleep
• 1:00am – 1:15am / nurse
• 1:15am – 4:30am / sleep
• 4:30am – 4:45am / nurse
• 4:45am – 7:30am / sleep
• 7:30am – 8:00am / play & mom pumps
• 8:00am – 8:45am / nurse
• 8:45am – 10:00am / play
• 10:00am – 11:00am / sleep
• 11:00am – 12:15pm / play
• 12:15pm – 12:45pm / nurse
• 12:45pm – 2:30pm / play
• 2:30pm – 3:30pm / sleep
• 3:30pm – 4:00pm / nurse
• 4:00pm – 6:00pm / play
• 6:00pm – 6:30pm / sleep
• 6:30pm – 6:45pm / nurse
• 6:45pm – 8:30pm / play
• 8:30pm – 9:30pm / bedtime activities and nurse

Sleep

Everyone asks how your new baby sleeps. Elyse naps about three times a day from 30 minutes to two hours at a time. She prefers to be held while sleeping after nursing, but I try to set her in the swing or vibrating bouncer seat to get her used to putting herself to sleep. Sometimes she sleeps in the Rock ‘N Play too, although this isn’t her (or our) favorite because it doesn’t automatically move.

At two months, Elyse was sleeping about eight hours straight at night. Then, it went to six hours, and now we’re back to about four hour increments. It’s annoying that she seems to be getting worse, but I think she is going through a growth spurt or developmental stage. To sleep longer stretches at night, I’m taking my pediatrician’s advice to stretch the day time feedings and decrease the minutes I feed her in the middle of the night. In a way, I like that she wakes to feed because when she would sleep eight hours straight, I would have to wake up and pump anyway. The lights and physically getting out of bed wakes me up more than bringing her in bed to nurse.

For our bedtime routine, I nurse her and read a story or two before putting her in the Arm’s Reach co-sleeper next to our bed with a binky (pacifier) in her mouth. Her favorites are Avent and Mam. She spits it out while falling asleep, which wakes her up, so I pop it back in for awhile until she’s fully asleep. If that doesn’t work, I sing. Although singing a repetitive tune almost always works, I don’t like doing it every night because I’m a horrible singer. I’m more of a back-up dancer type. For the last feeding of the night/morning, I usually just keep her in bed with me for a few hours.

Eat

I am breastfeeding, which I really enjoy despite some challenges. It wasn’t easy at first, but now it’s natural. I pump about nine ounces every morning and either freeze it or put in the fridge for Tyler to give her later. I don’t know exactly how many ounces she eats per day, but I track the minutes using the Glow app. I know she’s eating by her facial motions and she is gaining weight, so I don’t care how many ounces she eats.

I like that I have a set amount of time to bond with her and this will become even more important when I return to work. Tyler bottle feeds her every couple days and the few times she has been babysat by grandparents, they give her a bottle too. It’s a great bonding time for them as well. Tyler says her favorite bottle is the Tommee Tippee. We also use Dr. Brown’s and Avent.

Play

The coolest developmental thing Ellie does is say her name! I know I sound like a crazy parent, but she gurgles her name and it is adorable. It definitely helps that “Ellie” is basically just a sound.

The main thing she does for play is lay on her Bright Starts play mats (Giggle Garden and Charming Chirps). We have one upstairs and one downstairs that were given to us by friends. She loves to kick, grab, and even put the lower pieces in her mouth. Elyse always seems to kick one sock off, which you see below.

She also loves bath time in this tub, which I do in the morning for now. We also read books. I especially like the activity ones from Usborne (“Not My” series) and classics.

First bath by her auntie

Elyse loves being kissed on her big, adorable cheeks and tickled. We do tummy time a little bit each day, but she doesn’t like it very much. One time she rolled over for me and one time her grandma saw it too. I haven’t been able to catch the tummy-to-back roll on camera yet. Elyse must be close to teething because she drools a lot and loves to put toys, burp cloths, and fists in her mouth.

Diapers

The last main thing that babies do is poop and pee. I use cloth diapers at home and disposables from my baby shower outside the house and at nighttime. We have a mix of cloth diapers. My sister-in-law gave me a bunch of pre-fold diapers, so I just bought some BabyGoal diaper covers that were fairly inexpensive and Snappis. Tyler bought some newborn Alva pocket diapers that she has since outgrown and now we’re using Love My pocket diapers. We also have some G diapers that are really cute.

She’s also starting to get the hang of sitting in the Bumbo. It doesn’t last too long before she arches her back and tries to escape. 🙂