5 weeks old | Days 35 – 41

5 weeks since I gave birth to Honey Nut and I decided to chill out. I do a quick bit of blogging in the early morning after Honey Nut goes back to sleep after her first feed and after I’ve given Tyler his breakfast. Then I have the whole day free to play with Tyler and look after Honey Nut. I realised I was trying to juggle too much and carry on like normal. I’ve been reading up on the ‘Fourth Trimester’ and it’s a real thing that’s not mentioned much. But the first 12 weeks of a babies life should be treated like how it was when I was pregnant – relax and take it easy. Don’t think about a routine, carry baby around and don’t worry about it getting her into a bad habit – it won’t! And don’t rush with having big days out, we have all that to look forward to in the next year, just do little outings for now.

And I do feel more relaxed, and Honey Nut has been crying less and smiling more which helps! I also realised I quite like breastfeeding her, and though I planned to stop at 6 weeks, I’m going to carry on as it’s alright! That is a real surprise to me, but there you go. I think it’s because I’ve got the hang of expressing and can leave her with my mum for a few hours to take Tyler out. This week was the first time and I took him to the Ickenham Miniature Railway, just me and him, which was lovely. So it’s realising that breastfeeding doesn’t mean my life is over!

According to the Babycentre, at 5 weeks “you may find that your baby discovers her hands and feet. She’s just starting to realise that these wriggly bits belong to her! You can add to her fun by playing This Little Piggy with her toes. Your baby’s finding new ways to express herself all the time. Enjoy her gurgles, coos and grunts as she gradually learns to communicate without crying.”

That is exactly what happened this week, she’s communicating without crying – smiling and gurgling at me. It was so strange to me, as I was used to feeding her whenever she was awake before, and now she doesn’t always want a feed, she wants to be talked to, or look at her mobile or look out of the window (although the window thing isn’t new to her!).

Here’s my diary for the week (photos from left to right):

Day 35 – and we’ve reached 5 WEEKS! She seems to be crying less and has spent most of the day sleeping, so maybe the good days are coming 🙂 Today she had a visit from her granny on her daddy’s side, and lucky granny got some smiles (and some cries!) I’ve washed all her 0-3 month clothes as her babygros don’t fit at all now!

Day 36 – I miss doing my weekly pregnancy photos, so I thought why not carry on with them? It is the 4th trimester after all. Here’s 5 weeks post partum. Today is the first day she interacted with her rainforest cot mobile, properly cooing and gurgling at it 🙂 My mum got this @mothercareuk nightie from the boys section for her because she thought Tyler would like Honey Nut wearing buses. And she was right, he absolutely loves it

Day 37 – we spent it at Nana’s house. She was quite alert today and holding her head up really steady, but also wouldn’t sleep unless it was in the baby carrier. This romper is Ted Baker from @Debenhams that my mum got her ❤️

Day 38 – Well we did it, we ‘popped out’ to get some milk with Honey Nut in the baby carrier and my sidekick Tyler by my side. Tell you what though, I’m knackered, that was blooming heavy carrying baby and shopping – ow my shoulders! How on earth do you mums do this all the time?!

A day at home, apart from popping to Spar to get some milk in the baby carrier (first time!) She is reminding me of baby Tyler more and more each day, not just in how she looks but the way she looks at me too. I had put her on the playmat and her eyes followed me pottering around in the kitchen like I was the most fascinating thing. Also discovered putting her in the bouncer right in front of the window calms her down. This stripey vest is one of my faves from Tyler’s baby clothes. It was from C&A in Lisbon where we went for our baby moon in 2012.

Day 39 – I think things are getting better now we’re getting closer to the 6 week mark, she’s been awake much more without crying, just looking around, watching me and Tyler. I feel I can relax now, knowing just because she is awake doesn’t mean she just wants a feed. Don’t want to jinx it though, maybe today was just a good day. I watched her sleep today, I feel I fall in love with her more and more each day ❤️

40 DAYS! We made it 🙂 She has been happy since she woke up at 8.30am today. She had an afternoon with Nana looking after her, and she was absolutely fine, drank her milk from the bottle. When I got back, she was cooing at me like she was trying to talk to me. And she was smiling at Tyler jumping around, her eyes following him around the room.

Day 41 – she’s slept most of the day as it was hot. We went into town today to get Tyler’s haircut, school uniform and have a Costa coffee and she slept through all that. I dreamfed her some expressed milk from a bottle in Costa – I must say that was much more relaxing. Today’s outfit is this seaside-y dress from @nextofficial

Sabrina x