12 weeks - back to work

I went back to work on Thursday. My first day back went well, but the second day was a little more difficult. When I left the house in the morning Kaelyn was crying which made it very hard to just walk out the door (Tim was up "tending" to her). So the second day included a few Mommy tears. I wish I didn't have to work or could work just part time, but that isn't possible for us. booo! I think the second day I was gone was harder for Kaelyn too. She really enjoys nursing and as most baby's do she finds a lot of comfort in it. A 10 minute bottle isn't as cozy as a 40 minute boob!



Kaelyn hasn't been sleeping well lately. The last 2 weeks have been a mess! Some nights she'll sleep 4 straight hours, eat, then sleep again for 4 hours, other nights she'll get up every 2 hours. I thought maybe she was hungry so I would feed her every time she woke up, but I'm now thinking she just can't get herself back to sleep. So we've been doing a little tough love the past few nights. When she wakes up during these times she doesn't really cry much she just has a constant fussy noise that she does. Unless I hear serious cries/screams than I let her stay in bed. I'm not real excited about the "cry it out" method, but I think in this case it will work for us. I do find she is learning to soothe herself by sticking her finger(s)/hand in her mouth. She still refuses to take a pacifier and most times it just makes her more mad! I'm guessing she'll turn into a thumb sucker. Unfortunately with thumbs you can't control them not sucking it as easily as a pacifier. O well, she 3 months old I guess I'll worry about THAT later.

I think otherwise she is doing great. Still breast feeding like a champ! Pumping at work is so annoying, but it's worth it! I wasn't really able to get a supply before going back to work so on Friday Tim had to give her a bottle of formula. MINOR! I was okay with that. It may take me awhile to get into a routine of pumping at work and actually pumping enough. I get impatient and can see myself saying "that should be enough" and just stop the pumping session a few minutes earlier than I should.

Well Kaelyn managed to soothe herself to sleep tonight. I had put her to bed asleep at 8:15, but she woke up 10 minutes later. She managed to do it in about 25 minutes with a few hiccups after, but she seems to be out now so I'm going to go to bed. Let's hope she sleeps a little better tonight.