Madison, Madison, Madison. It’s funny, because I actually feel like she is older than 5 months. I’m not sure if it’s because this has been the longest year ever, or because she is our second baby and it just feels like she is older.
I will be honest, Maddie was not the easiest baby the first month. Early on, I felt like I was always either carrying her or nursing her if she wasn’t sleeping. It probably felt that way because we were home all of the time because of Covid, but I felt like I was just always holding her the first 3-4 weeks. I had different expectations for my second baby. I really thought it would be so much easier. I had some nursing trouble the first few weeks which I’ll save for another post, but Maddie was always snacking on me and never getting full feedings. She was often fussy because she wanted to eat like every hour.
Fast forward to months 2-3, she was sleeping longer stretches, and nursing longer sessions. Overall, she was a more relaxed baby. For sleeping, I used the halo sleepsack/swaddle the first month but she would always break out of it. The Ollie world swaddle is the best one I have used for sure. The only time she would break out of it is when I didn’t put it back on her good enough after a feeding during the night. She was sleeping from about 8-4:30/5 by 3 months. That lasted about a week, then she started to roll over when she turned 3 months so I had to unswaddle her.
I thought I had the transition all planned out. I would start to nap her with 1 arm out of the swaddle, or I would keep her arms out in a heavier sleep sack. But, she was just so small that the startle reflex would wake her and it was hard to settle her so we were back to 3am feedings. I had the merlin magic sleep suit from when McKenzie was a baby. But McKenzie started to roll over at 4 months and was a much bigger baby than Maddie so the size I had was massive on Madison. We ordered a smaller one on Amazon and we were back to 5 am! Now at 5 months she is sleeping from 7:30PM to about 6/6:30AM. I usually have to go in her room 2/3 times a night to put her binky in so I’m hoping now that she’s a little older I can teach her how to find one and get it in her mouth herself.
She really is a great baby. She rarely cries, and if she starts to fuss it’s usually because she has been awake for atleast 90 minutes. I think because we rarely leave the house with her that she is SO good when we do leave the house because she is just like shocked by seeing everything in the world. Two of my favorite things to do with her are bringing her outside or giving her a bath. I love when I put her in her Merlin sleep suit before bed and she looks like a sumo wrestler. I bounce her around and sign Twinkle Twinkle little star and she giggles and it just makes my heart burst.
Maddie is always so happy when she wakes up, but doesn’t like to be woken up. McKenzie is SO cute with her. She doesn’t like to be forced to do things (like take pictures or give a kiss) to Madison. She likes to do things on her own terms (like everything else in her life) but it’s so sweet when I catch it. If Maddie is napping, McKenzie needs to hold onto the monitor (sometimes she hides it) but she will let me know if Maddie makes a sound or moves a muscle. She doesn’t like when she cries, she will tell me she needs milk. Kenz was pretty jealous early on, but I think she realizes Madison is a part of the family now.
Having two kiddos is alot of work. I am often tired and always doing something in order to keep my kids happy or my house together. 5 months of chaos so far but I just love being a mama.
The Redheaded Mom 