Tall Boy

Erm, I've been holding off blogging about the Boy because it's probably going to sound awfully smug. Also, I'm worried it may jinx things.

But I'm wondering if the fates have decreed that since we've had such an awful time of it for the past couple of years, we've gotten a fairly easy baby. The only times he really gets upset is if he's hungry and I'm in a situation where I can't feed him straight away, or if he's got a dirty nappy. Or if something hurts him - like an injection - or if he's looking at a very bright light (unusual, but it happened a couple of times on public transport). But it's generally straightforward to anticipate his needs or deal with them if he's unhappy. At least, so far.

I've found breastfeeding fairly easy too. There were days at the start where I was doing really long feeds, and every so often the Boy seems to need to crank up my supply. This means I get a day of doing nothing else but feed (the more he feeds, the more I produce). This does get quite trying and I'm always relieved when those days are over, although I think infertility has made this a fairly small thing to take in my stride. But, the vast majority of the time, it's been straightforward.

I'd expected a breastfed baby to be smaller than a formula fed one, and expected to have the occasional worry about weight. Instead, the Boy is a bit of a bruiser. He's bang on average for weight - so above average for a breastfed baby - and well above average for his height. In fact, he's about to outgrow some clothes that are sized for 6-9 month old babies. I thought the clothes might just be cut small, but I took him along to a baby group for the first time today and he really is bigger than some much older babies.

Also, he's never had problems with taking a bottle. I felt awful when he had to be formula fed after being born because his blood sugar was low. But, on the plus side, he's never been freaked out about having milk from a rubber teat. This means I can occasionally express and go out - I don't do this a lot, but we have had two trips to eat out and one to the cinema since he was born although he goes through the expressed milk really quickly and starts bellowing equally fast if there isn't milk to hand when he's hungry, so I need to leave a lot with whichever relative is babysitting!)

Developmentally, he's been doing well. I mean, I'm not claiming he's a child genius and some websites say he should already be rolling, which he definitely isn't. But we'll get there. Even in the past week, he's made different sounds, has learned to grab, and has got much more interested in different toys as well as the trees in the park and other children. He started making odd shouty noises at the baby next to him at the baby group, which is the first time he's attempted to interact with someone who wasn't making an effort to play with him!

Sleep wise, we're doing good. He sleeps from half past nine in the evening until between half four and half five in the morning. I get up and feed him and he immediately conks out - it's quite funny sometimes! Then he gets up properly at around half past seven in the morning. So he's not sleeping through yet, but between us, we can live with his sleep pattern. And it certainly beats getting up every two or three hours to feed. His instinct seems to be to eat lots in the evening so he's totally full - he apparently doesn't drop off if there's even just a tiny little bit of space in his stomach.

I'm sure it won't always be plain sailing. Watching him kick in his bouncy seat, you can see there's a lot of energy zooming around his little body that we're going to have to find other outlets for very soon.

Perversely, I also worry about him when he sleeps for long periods, or that he may be too big for his age. But I think that's probably normal for first time parents, too.

I also worry that the moment I hit 'publish' he will turn into a milk refusing insomniac, will begin teething, or have some other sort of drama.

I hope I don't sound too smug or boastful about it all... in fact, it's twenty to eleven and he's just uncharacteristically woken up!