Matthew 9 weeks

As the subject line suggests, Matthews turns 9 weeks old tonight. This past week, he's been sleeping particularly well at night and during the day. He's been consistently rewarding us with 5 hr sleeps the past 4-5 nights. Last night he slept from 7pm - 12am and then from 1230am till 5am, waking up at his usual time of 7am. We are of course delighted with his progress.

He will give us sustained eye contact, smile and watch us as we speak to him. He also likes to listen to Duncan and I speaking to one another. I've been reciting the alphabet slowly to him and he will watch my lips and 'chat' back. He responds particularly to the sound 'ooh'.

Matthew had his medical appointment yesterday. The test results show that he had no reflux from his bladder to his kidneys and that everything is functioning normally. The results will be sent to his paediatrician and we are waiting for final word that he can stop his medication.

Attached is a photo taken before bathtime a week ago.

Love, M's M

Matthew 8 weeks

Matthew will be officially 8 weeks old at 8:52pm this evening. He's gained a mere 100-200g this week. I couldn't get an accurate reading as he was bouncing up and down on the scales. His neck is much stronger and he is smiling and talking a lot more this week. Hope you recieved his sound file. We are trying to get him to sleep longer than 3.5-4 hrs in a single stretch overnight! We are still being woken up 2-3 times a night. Hopefully that will change very soon. Love Matthew's mum. Ps the dreaded test is next Wed.

Matthew 6 weeks

Hi All Matthew has been doing well. The renal ultrasound on Wed showed no probs with his kidneys and bladder. I have a followup consult with his Dr next week to discuss whether further tests are required. He gained another 300g this week making his total weight 5.5kg. We measure his lenght last night and estimate him to be about 59-60cm, which is about 8 cm growth since birth. I'm trialling a new routine to reduce the number of feeds I give him in a day from 9 to 7-8. Also making sure that we have at least 2 'playtime' sessions during the day which lasts around 1 to 1.5 hrs depending on how tired he gets. Playtime consists of chatting/singing, using the rattles and playmat, tummy time (he can now turn his head from side to side when on his tummy) and finally I read to him quietly to let him know it's time to wind down and have a nap. It's been difficult getting him to sleep in his cot during the day as he has gotten used to being rocked to sleep in the pram/ car. I'm going to a 'settling' class next week to get some advice. The evenings we bath Matthew to let him know that the routine for night time has started. I'm doing all this to encourage a long sleep of 4-5 hour stretch at night. So far it seems to be working. Last night we fed and bathed him by 730 and it then took another 45 mins or so to settle him and sleeping in his cot. He slept till 1.15am. It's the first time he has gone without feeding for that long. Hopefully we are heading in the right track.