Dear Sophia: 2 Months Old

Dear Sophia,

This month has been bittersweet. I can see how much you are growing and developing into your own little person. And while I love seeing you change and doing new things daily, I can’t help but hanker after the teeny, tiny newborn I brought home from the hospital; so fragile and new.

Though at two months you really are still very tiny. You still love to sleep all curled up on my chest, making sleepy little noises every so often and you still have your sweet baby smell which fills my nose every time I kiss you on your head.

We still can’t believe that you are our wonderful, precious little girl. The word ‘love’ doesn’t even come close.

This month you have been…

Sleeping

Your sleep has been pretty consistent since you’ve been born. You usually only wake once to be fed anywhere between 2am and 4am and you’re now starting to sleep longer stretches. You have had a few very unsettled nights this month where you were waking almost every hour but generally you’re a good sleeper.

We’ve started to try and get you into a bit more of a bedtime routine this month. We’ve started to follow a loose routine now. I aim for bath time at about 6pm, I apply your lotion and get you into your PJs. I then read you a story and give you your last bottle. By this time Daddy will usually arrive home and be able to have some cuddles with you until about 7pm. Then we put you into your moses basket to sleep.

The first few nights of this you weren’t pleased at all! The first night it took about 3 hours to get you to sleep but this has been getting less and less every night. If you start to get upset we pat your tummy to comfort you and this seems to do the trick.

Eating

Unfortunately breastfeeding just didn’t work out for us in the end. I was breastfeeding, bottle feeding and pumping milk and it all just got so much. I just couldn’t make enough milk to keep up as you were needing more and more formula. If we would go out and I’d feed you a bottle I’d be panicking that I’d need to rush home and pump to keep my supply going.We also started to experience latch issues that I’m sure were because you’d got used to the ease of feeding from a bottle teat which caused you a lot of frustration.

In the end I made the decision to gradually change completely to formula. Even a few weeks on I still feel really guilty about it and will always feel like I let you down a little bit. But then I look at you, my beautiful girl, and see how well you’re now doing. You have little chubby fingers, rolls on your thighs and pudgy fists. You are thriving and that can only be a good thing.

Developing

What a difference a month makes! You are so much more alert and interactive now and it’s wonderful to see. This month you can…

• Smile. You could smile last month but they are now much bigger and light up your whole face. Your smiles are so beautiful and truly melt our hearts.
• Squeal. You’re not fully laughing but when you’re really happy and smiling you’ll make a high pitched little squeal of joy.
• ‘Talk’. You love to talk to us, and seem to think it’s so much fun when we copy you by making the same noises back to you. You’re also starting to make noises to communicate rather than just crying (though that is still your main way of letting us know what you want). You’ll shout to get out attention. When we walk out of your line of sight you’ll shout us.
• Touch things. You are a lot more interested in feeling things this month. When I’m feeding or cuddling you you’ll be feeling my clothes and you like to feel your knitted comfort blanket. I think it relaxes you. You also love the crinkly patches on your play mat.
• Reach out. When you are in your baby gym you have started reaching out at the toys that hang down. Rather than just knocking them accidentally like you used to you now seem to be reaching out in a purposeful way.

You are now showing so much more interest in the world around you, you love to look around and see everything that is going on. We can’t believe how fast you are changing but we love you more and more every day.

Happy 2 month birthday beautiful girl!

Lots of love from Mummy and Daddy.xxx