Fritz Update: 3 Months

So I *meant* to get Fritz’s 2 month update up, but another month has quickly come and gone, and Fritz just turned 3 months on the 30th! We’ve followed a somewhat loose schedule for him since he’s been born, but it has lots of consistency now since he’s been about 8 weeks old, so I figured I’d share his schedule and things he’s loving for those that are interested. In the past, Keldon’s updates were always the biggest hits on my blog, so I’m happy to share what’s working for us!

3 Month Updates & Milestones

Exclusively breastfeeds unless I am out of the house – then he takes pumped breastmilk from the Dr. Brown’s Options+ bottles. We worked our way to getting him used to bottles by giving him one once a night about every other night. I think we started this around 5 or 6 weeks. It was a bit of a challenge at first since he didn’t take the bottle that well, but we just kept practicing. It was important for us to get him used to taking a bottle so I can leave the house once in a while without him! There has been no nipple confusion and he takes either like a champ, even after I was away for a whole weekend last weekend.
Since Fritz has been about 8 weeks old, he’s been sleeping through the night (!!!). Typically around 9:30-10:30pm until 6:30am. Truly grateful, because Keldon was not a good sleeper as a newborn until we sleep trained at 4 months. That being said, I don’t have any *secret* to getting him to sleep through the night. I do think getting enough feeds every 2-3 hours, paying attention to wake windows and sleepy cues AND the SNOO helps us to get those long stretches at night. The SNOO is 1000% worth it, if you ask Tom and I. Fritz still sleeps in the bassinet next to me in our room. We’ll probably move him to his crib in a month or 2. We follow Taking Cara Babies tips too, she has a ton of really great (and free) resources on her IG!
While Fritz is an awesome sleeper at night, he currently has a reputation of not being a good napper… but I guess we’d rather have our sleep at night if we were to pick one! It definitely makes it harder to get work done or anything done around the house though, so we are hoping he turns a corner pretty soon. Some days we will get a nice nap, and some days we will only get 15 minute ones. I know that typically babies start becoming more routine sleepers when they are 5 months old, so if you’re in the same boat, you aren’t alone! 🙂
Fritz had his dermoid plexus cyst on his forehead (near his left eyebrow) evaluated by a plastic surgeon about a month ago, and they’d like to wait out the surgery until he is around 2 or 3 years old. It’s not causing harm right now, but has potential to damage his orbital bone and/or rupture and cause infection to the surrounding issue, so it’s something we want to get removed for him when we can.
Not a big fan of car rides… which totally sucks! There is nothing more draining and makes you feel more helpless than hearing your baby cry in the car (don’t worry, we always make sure he is fed and in a clean diaper before we hop in the car, so his needs are met)! But it has helped him to have me sit next to him. We will also offer his paci in the car which sometimes helps, but he’s not super into pacis. We just traveled to Wisconsin Dells over the weekend and the trip there was a treat for us… he was not a very happy camper. But on the way home he did amazing!! So we are hoping that he’s maybe used to it now and over his carseat blues lol.
Enjoys tummy time! He didn’t always like tummy time, but something we really worked on right away since it’s so important for their strength and neck muscles, and also for preventing flat spots.
Gives us the sweetest gummy smiles. 🙂 He just smiled at Keldon today and my heart melted!
Coos, blows bubbles and babbles! Still working on a giggle, but we are almost there!
Likes to suck on his fists. I love when he does it and gives us a very judgmental look on his face with his eyebrows, haha! He has such great expressions.
Loves being outside, but he still has the wind startle reflex since it takes his breath away! We will avoid walks on windy days for that reason haha.

Frit’z Current Schedule:

We follow an eat, sleep, play schedule with 60-90 minute wake windows and 2-3 hours between feeds. That being said, we don’t get him down at these exact times below, but roughly! The only consistent time is when he wakes and goes down for bedtime. Again, we follow lots of Taking Cara Babies newborn tips. She has free tips in her newborn profile highlights on her IG, and a Newborn class that is worth the $.

6:30am: Fritz wakes up at 6:30am, and the last few days it’s been 6:50am. Once he wakes, we do a diaper change and I nurse him. From here, we will hang out and play.

7:30/8: Nap – like I said above, he is not a great napper. So pretty often his naps only last 15-30 minutes. In the rare occasion that he naps well, we won’t him sleep any longer than 3 hours from the start of his last feed. If his naps are short, we try to have more rest/quiet time.

8:30-9:30am: Will eat again, usually at 8:30 but no later than 9:30.

…And repeat, following 60-90 minute wake windows and 2-3 hours between feeds. Since the times are different each day, we aren’t feeding or taking a nap at exactly the same time every day.

9:30-10:30pm: We try not to get him down any later than 10:30pm. I will feed him / top him off before he goes down. Lately, we’ve noticed that he is getting extra tired around the 7-9pm period, so we are thinking about working to push back his bedtime a bit.