Baby T's first week at home!

It's hard to believe it was less than a week ago that Baby T. came into this world. Over the fist week, Baby T. did quite a bit (for a newborn). First stop was the doctor's office where we met our pediatrician for the first time (and whom we absolutely love!) and weighed Baby T. to see how much weight he had lost. He had gone from a small 5 pounds 2 ounces to 4 pounds 11 ounces and for a first-time mom, even when you know that its standard practice to lose weight, it's a difficult thing to hear.

The thought of my little teeny dumpling's weightloss brought tears to my eyes. Nevertheless, as many doctors and books will tell you, most babies lose weight in the early days of their lives because they aren't eating much and are waiting for mom's breast milk to come in. Additionally, newborns are born with some food reserve (they are full from their 9 months of buffet-style eating) and their tummies are the size of a dime so the little they get from the colostrum in the mom's breast is sufficient to keep their bowel movements going. Hospitals/doctors are willing to accept an initial weightloss of up to 10% of the original weight. Anything more and immediate action to feed formula is usually taken. For those who want to breastfeed, this can be a bit stressful given the potential "nipple confusion" (once infants use the bottle to get milk, many refuse to return to the mother's nipple, where more effort is required to extract milk).


During week 1, baby T. also had a second visit to the doctor and luckily, the second time around, we saw some weight gain (he was at 5 pounds). I was so thankful that Baby T. was slowly growing and left the office incredibly relieved. We also had to test him out for jaundice since his face was starting to look a bit more yellow. Luckily for us and Baby T. the tests showed that his levels of bilirrubin were 'stable' and he would not have to go into the hospital for special jaundice treatment.



At home, Baby T. spent most of his first week sleeping, eating and pooping/peeing. Because during week 1, C. and I had yet to master the art of swaddling, Baby T's sleep was a bit erratic and the poor little bear wasn't able to fully rest unless he was held by grandma or sleeping on mommy or daddy's chest. Lucky for him, grandma was happy to hold him while he was sleeping so Baby T. managed to catch a lot of snooze in her arms.