I know I shouldn’t do this. Heck, I’m the youngest of 3 and I know what it’s like growing up with constant comparisons to older siblings.  But I just can’t help drawing the lines between M’s babyhood and MAD’s.  

• – M was an awful sleeper.  She was 5 months before she slept a consistent 6 hours at night.  We never dared check on her after putting her down because she would wake up the instant we entered her room. MAD slept his first straight 8 hours at 6 weeks.  By 8 weeks it was consistent.  Nothing wakes the kid up, not even the dog barking at the mailman.  Now at 12 weeks he’s clocking 9-10 hours a night without a wake-up, even when I check on him.  It’s awesome.

 

• – At 11 weeks MAD was 15 pounds.  M didn’t reach that weight until 21 weeks!

 

• – M never, ever took a bottle.  We tried every kind, every trick, and every method from 3 weeks to 5 months before giving up.  We didn’t want the same problem with MAD so we started him on one bottle of formula a day in the hospital, despite the warnings from the lactation consultant. He did fine going back and forth from me to it and I was confident I would not be tethered to him by a 3-hour leash like I was his sister.   
  That was until about 6 weeks when all of a sudden he started refusing all bottles. Since then we’ve tried pumped breast milk, different formulas, new bottles, and different temperatures.  He wouldn’t take it. You can imagine my stress as I got ready to come back to work.  My job now isn’t nearly as flexible as it was then (although I still have the same amazingly understanding boss). We kept working on it and found that the Playtex Drop-In bottles with rubber nipples (not the exact same ones in silicone – no way!) were the only thing he could be coaxed to accept.  But then he would only take about an ounce and only from me.
  So I prepared to make 2 trips to daycare each day to feed him, although I still sent 2 2-oz. bottles for them to try. Day 1 he wouldn’t take a drop.  Day 2 he drank both bottles with no fuss.  Today I sent 2 4-oz. bottles and am keeping my fingers crossed he is cooperative.  I really need to only go over at lunch, or my productivity in the office is going to be nil.
   
• – Speaking of bottles, I know this is probably way TMI but I am astonished at my pumping output this time.  With M, ever hopeful that she would take a bottle, I pumped for 4 months.  The most I ever produced from a 30 minute double pumping session was 4 oz.  You can imagine my heartbreak when I had to pour 45 pouches of breast milk down the drain when we gave up the bottle attempts with her.   
  This time 20 minutes gives me 6-10 oz. easily.  Every single time I stare at the full bottles and marvel.  It was so hard last time, and while it’s still not any more comfortable or glamorous it’s so much more worthwhile to see decent output.  Add to it that he’s, you know, actually drinking it and it makes it much less demanding to sit through those god-awful pumping sessions.
  Now, I know putting this in writing is all going to curse me and he’ll start taking 16 oz a day from a bottle and I won’t be able to keep up!

 

So far MAD has been a very easy baby.  I think it’s because of the sleep.  Anything is easier when you get 8 hours of sleep!

What about other mothers? Did you find yourself marveling at how different things were from one kid to the next? For the second (or third, or fourth) did you prepare yourself for some “problem” that never happend that time around or take steps to prevent something that happened anyway?