The first 12 weeks after birth are widely known as the fourth trimester, following on from the 3 12 week trimesters of pregnancy. These 12 weeks are the adjustment stage for both mother and baby.
Jackson is now 14weeks old so we left the fourth trimester a couple of weeks ago. According to theories I should now be accustomed to being a mum and Jackson should be used to being on the outside, not surrounded by fluid in my tummy. All in all I think we are getting there.

I wrote before about our issues with sleep and spent the first 12 weeks cosleeping with him. He rarely settled in his crib for longer than a couple of hours at the start of the night. I mentioned it to the Health Visitor and she told me that if I stuck with returning him to his crib every time – cuddling him when he cried and then returning him (it could take hours each time) then after 3 weeks it would start to sink in. She suggested I started when I had a few weeks with no prior engagements as I had to do the same thing each night and would probably end up knackered. On the first night I tried he settled easily in his crib, allowing me to take the monitor downstairs and have an evening to myself, and then after every feed, even going in awake and settling himself, finally coming into my bed at 6am and sleeping with me until 10am. As I suspected it was a fluke. The second night was still ok, but he was harder to settle, but by the third night he took 2 hours to settle! Since then he has varied from an hour to five hours to settle which gets quite frustrating, and I must admit that I have occasionally fallen asleep after feeding him in the night and kept him in bed with me. On the whole, however, he has been so much better that I ever expected. I don’t know what has changed as I have always tried to put him in his crib, I suppose the key is being persistent when he doesn’t go straight down.

He’s a good feeder now, after the first couple of weeks being a bit of a struggle with him not opening his mouth, but since then he has basically taken to it like a duck to water. It’s amazing how subtle I can be feeding him now, no more waving my boob around for 20minutes waiting for him to latch, I just lift up my top and he suckers on for 20minutes. I fed him in a restaurant the other day, (that being the most public I have been yet) and the doctors waiting room, but I am getting better at going out now I am more confident so I expect that list of places to get longer. That’s what I love about breastfeeding, there is no heating bottles, nothing extra to pack, no sterilising. It’s fantastic. Totally worth the first week of excruciating pain (in my opinion worse than labour. I dreaded him crying, but now it is completely pain free.)

He still a bit of a limpet, and doesn’t like being put down. He is getting better in his bouncy chair as he can now be distracted with toys, and he was ok in his pram as long as he was moving, however he is so nosey that he preferred being up on my shoulder looking around at everything so I made the decision to turn it into a pushchair. I almost cried as it seems like my little boy is growing up so so fast, but he prefers it so much. He tries to stay awake as long as he can just to look at everything around! I make sure to flatten it whenever he is asleep to keep him flat as much as possible.

I can’t get over how much I love this little boy! It’s totally crazy. I miss him after a couple of hours of someone else holding him!! When I’m looking after him I can’t remember or imagine my life without him, but when I sit back and watch someone else cuddling him I can’t even believe he is mine!

And so now my baby is no longer a newborn!