Stretch the feeds?!?!

So we went to see the pediatrician today. As you may have read in an earlier post, when Eli was born he had a heart murmur that was checked out extensively and said to be gone. On Eli's 7 week or so appointment our family doctor heard it again so we were referred to the pediatrician. So here we are 5 weeks later and we finally got in. Side note: It was Eli's 12 week birthday today! So the doc checked him out and said to watch for sweating and excess tiredness when eating, turning blue, and I thought there was one more thing but maybe I'm mistaken. Otherwise, his heart murmur is normal and will probably go away by 12 months old. He's in the 10th percentile in head circumference and the 50th percentile in weight. He doesn't do measurements because he says it varies too much on who takes the measurement and how squirmy the baby is since they can't "stand up straight". So he is a healthy happy boy. But... dun dun dunnnnn. He says I'm feeding him far too often. He says that's how often you feed a two week old. He says I should be stretching feeds 4 hours apart to be normal for three months. In the words of Bart Simpson: Ay caramba! I feel a bit strange about letting him cry because he "thinks" he's hungry. It would be nice to have more time to myself during the day to get things done or to play with him and I'm sure it would help him sleeping through the night which apparently he should be able to do by now. I just think it's weird to enforce a schedule on your baby. I am going to try it though. If it gets too heartbreaking to hear him scream away I may break though. Just warning you in advance. He did go four hours tonight between feeds (counting from start to start) but he does always sleep well in the evening.

On another note the car seat sleeping is working out very well. He definitely has good naps in his car seat. Maybe it's cuz he's upright or supported around him, who knows but it works! He's also in love with his peppa bunny from Uncle Steve (my dad's friend). It is so cute when he snuggles him. I'm trying to get him used to sleeping with him during the day so he knows bunny time is napping time.

I've also been thinking of putting a bed time routine into place but I'm not sure about bathing him every day, I can see when he begins to crawl and get into everything but now it seems excessive. And reading him a story doesn't seem to mean much to him either. Maybe it's too soon for those bedtime routines.

He's sleeping again, has been for about an hour. I think I will wake him though because ideally I would like to get him on a schedule of being awake for about an hour before feeding at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and then just waking to feed 11pm, 3am, preferably cutting the 3am and maybe even 11pm one out completely. Here's hoping...

Anyway, always new things to try. Sweet dreams!