Eliza: 8 weeks old

I can hardly believe I am writing this already – Eliza is 8 weeks old.

Weight: We had a bit of an issue with weight gain at the beginning but now Eliza is steadily growing, even though she is still on the small side. At her last weigh in when she was 7 weeks, her weight was sitting at 8lbs 15oz. Small, but perfectly formed 🙂

Feeding: I am not going to pretend feeding has been easy. It hasn’t. With awful reflux and some allergy issues we have had a rough start. Eliza is now on several medications, and although it’s not completely controlled it is manageable now. We will be seeing the paediatric team soon and may have a change of medication then, and there may be further allergy information. For now she has settled into a routine of feeding roughly every 3-4hours, although sometimes it can be 2 hourly.

Sleep: In the last week sleep has improved slightly – we have had a couple of 6 or 7 hour stints at night time. Last night she fed at 10.30pm and slept until 4.30 which I can’t really complain about – it’s just a shame she’s not keen to go back to sleep after that early morning feed!

Likes and dislikes: As I mentioned last month she is too small to really have any set likes and dislikes. We have just got a new swing seat which she seems to enjoy – the swinging motion definitely soothes her if she is a bit fractious. She still loves to be cuddled against your shoulder, and she likes to know you are near – if she can’t see you she gets a bit upset. She likes to be outside looking around. As for dislikes, nothing has really become obvious yet – loud noises can make her jump but apart from that she is fairly easy going.

Firsts: The first smile happened a few weeks ago now but since then they have become much more frequent and we get gummy grins most days now. As I mentioned above we have has our first long stretch of sleep at night, which is a first every parent loves 😉 I am really looking forward to the next few weeks when we get the first giggle and the first attempts at rolling over.

In the last 4 weeks Eliza has changed so much. She has really started to lose that newborn look and is so much more alert. She watches everything that Gemma, Jacob and Max do and you can see her taking it all in. She likes to coo at you, and tries to copy the movements you make with her mouth when talking to her. The next update will be at 12 weeks – I can’t wait to see how much she will have changed by then.