Breastfeeding and cloth diapers and pediatricians

It's a new month, so it seems like a good time for updates all around, yes?

On the breastfeeding thing: We've pretty much settled into a routine on this one. When Callum is hungry, I nurse him, then I give him a bottle. He eats a ton of formula every day, meaning that he likely isn't getting a whole lot from nursing--but I do see breast milk in his diapers, so I know he's getting something. I have no idea how long this will last--I kind of wonder if at some point my supply will just dwindle down to nothing--but for now, this is working for us, and I'm at peace with it.

On the cloth diaper thing: Per all of your excellent advice way back when, we used disposables for the first month for the sake of our own sanity. Then we discussed it and tried to give cloth a try. We ordered one FuzziBunz one-size to try out, and liked it, so decided to take the plunge and order a full set of 24. (Actually a lovely and very generous birthday gift from my parents. Is it sad that I was actually really excited to get cloth diapers for my birthday?) We also replaced the microfiber inserts that come with the FuzziBunz with Joey-Bunz hemp inserts, which are more absorbent than microfiber.

So far they've worked out great. We had a couple of blips as we tried to get used to them, mostly leaking as we tried to figure out the best size settings for Callum's body. At first we only thought about the leg sizing and then they started leaking because the waist was too loose, but once we figured out that issue--and switched to the hemp inserts--we've had very few leaking issues. We change his diaper about once every three hours during the day and less often at night. He's slept up to 7-8 hours at night in these diapers with either no leak at all or just a very tiny wet spot on the flap of his onesie. Maybe as he gets older and starts peeing bigger amounts, we'll have to switch to disposables at night--but for now, this is working great for us and Torsten and I are both really happy we switched. It hasn't been a hassle at all, and the diapers are easy to use, and we feel good about having fabric next to his skin instead of plastic and chemicals, and not creating tons of waste. Plus, it's great that we pretty much never have to buy diapers again.

On the pediatrician: We love her. Callum's two-month appointment was on Wednesday, and it was great. He weighed in at 14 pounds, 1.5 ounces (which they said was 91st percentile, though looking at the CDC/WHO chart, I think it's actually more like 80-something), and he is exactly 24 inches long, which is the 81st percentile. So, basically, this is a fast-growing baby, who has finally gotten back to percentiles similar to where he was at birth. Though I try not to place too much stock in the percentiles... I'm mostly just glad that his weight and length aren't wildly disproportionate to one another.

The pediatrician told us we don't need to swaddle him anymore if it doesn't seem like he's getting anything out of it--so we tried a swaddle-free night and it went fine. He slept for seven hours without waking up. So, we'll see if he continues with that pattern, but I'm going to go ahead and tentatively say that he does not need the swaddle, and now can just sleep in a regular sleep sack.

The pediatrician also told us that his skin is dry, and she is now OK with us using lotion on him (unlike the last visit where she told us not to put anything on his skin just yet other than soap). So, we've started a new routine of moisturizing the baby twice a day, and you guys, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite moments of the entire day. Callum LOVES having lotion put on. He gets really happy and smiley and starts gurgling and babbling and kicking his legs, and it is just the sweetest thing ever. I could seriously listen to him all day with the adorable noises that he makes.

So! I'd say overall things are going pretty well over here. Other than the part where a giant section of the fence that separates our backyard from our neighbor's backyard blew over in yesterday's windstorm. That was less than awesome. But hey, it created a good opportunity to catch up with our neighbor, so that was nice. It's all about looking on the bright side, right?