Apparently, she's gearing up to support us in our old age via a modeling career. What a little nut!
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| Smiling at Mommy |
She has been sleeping through the night since around 3.5 months but now it is extremely consistent. She now rarely wakes up after we put her down and if she does she is easily able to soothe herself back to sleep unless something is wrong (like a dirty diaper). (I'm knocking on wood all over the place right now because I'm pretty sure the fastest way for this to stop is to write about it in a public forum.) She goes down between 7 and 7:30 and sleeps until between 7 and 8 am the next morning and YES, IT IS GLORIOUS. Also, if you think Charlie and I are some kind of baby sleep geniuses, I assure you, we are not. Our only real intervention was to unswaddle her and give her a couple nights to find her thumb, (which involved some crying on both parent's and baby's parts) and she basically took it from there. Her daytime naps are still relatively short although they are starting to slowly get longer. Some are still predictably 30ish minutes but if I'm lucky I get at least one 1- 1.5 hour nap a day. The books say by the end of 6 months that she should have gone through "nap consolidation", meaning she'll transition from napping 3-4 times a day for 30-45 minutes to (hopefully) taking 2 longer naps and possibly an evening catnap. Some have suggested that she's just a born catnapper but I don't agree. When she only sleeps 30-45 minutes and gets up, it's obvious she's still tired. The book "experts" state that this is still a developmental thing and that while you can "force" a baby to go to sleep, you can't force them to sleep longer. So, for the most part we been going with the flow and thanking the Lord that she sleeps so well at night. We are working on her soothing herself to sleep for naps, meaning we've started consistently putting her down drowsy but awake (at home, if we're at friend's house all bets are off) and letting her fuss a bit if she doesn't fall right asleep. This a mixed bag. Sometimes she rolls right over and goes to sleep, sometimes she lets out one "protest whine" and then plays till she falls asleep, sometimes she fusses for a good 5-10 minutes before finally sucking her thumb and falling asleep.
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| Eyes! Mouth! |
Whew, that was a lot about sleep, but at this age that is still what most people ask about when they find out we have an infant! At her five month appointment last week she was 12 lbs, 10.5 ozs. This wasn't a full check up, the doctor had asked that we come back in for a weight check when we came in for her two shots. Though she had gained weight since her 4 month check up, it was only 5.5 ozs, less than they like to see. Because of this she is now only on the 10% growth curve. This itself is not a concern but the doctor wants to see her gain some more weight since for the first couple months she was consistently in the 50th percentile. I mentioned last month that I was working on getting my milk supply up and I have been working hard at it (pumping often- including getting up in the middle of the night, taking supplements like fenugreek and a prescription prescribed by my midwife). My supply has increased, however the doctor wants me to supplement Josie's feedings with some additional ounces of pumped milk so that we can be sure to she is gaining weight appropriately. So far, it's working out, despite it being extra work for me. But, since breastfeeding is so important to me it really doesn't bother me much and I have been functioning well despite continuing to wake up for 1/2 hour each night to pump.
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| standing with help |
She's not eating solids yet and we don't plan to start them with her until close to 6 months, which the doctor was still in favor of, despite her weight "issues". I have a lot of people seem confused as to why we haven't started her on solids yet, which I find surprising (that so many people are asking me). If you're interested- there are a number of reasons! We're big believers in eating "real" foods- aka foods in which you can identify and pronounce every ingredient and that don't contain weird chemicals and additives (basically almost nothing that comes in a box. This isn't to say we're perfect eaters! We ate Krispy Kreme donuts this weekend for crying out loud). So we want to feed Josie foods that are "real" AND have a great deal of nutritional value for her growing body. While rice cereal is safe for babies at 4 months, it doesn't have tons of nutritional value and therefore, unless there was a medical reason for her to have it , such as reflux (this helps some babies' tummy troubles by keeping things more settled), we decided to bypass it and stick with only breastmilk. Also, there are numerous research studies that demonstrate waiting to introduce solids until 6 months can reduce a child's chances of developing a food allergy and reduces the chances that mom's milk supply will diminish due to it being replaced by solid food (already dealing with supply issues- no need to add more in!). Finally, it is recommended that babies get the majority of their nutrition from breastmilk or formula for the first year, so food should be treated as "exploratory" at it's introduction. So, if you were wondering...that is why! As always- not a judgement on what other parent's due- this is just what's right for us. I AM really looking forward to starting solids with her next month, while at the same time glad to have waited as it can also be (yet another) time consuming endeavor. We plan to give her avocado as her first food- lots of great healthy fats for the skinny babe!
Other developments this month include being able to sit with support and using both hands to grab objects. She likes to stand while someone is holding her hands and her reaction to everything is to lean forward with her mouth open to explore whatever it is. She wants to explore everything with her mouth and she will often lean into my face with her mouth open when I stand her up on my lap (it's adorable). We can finally notice some chunk on her little baby thighs, though she is still a little skinny mini. She prefers to be on her back and when she is placed on her stomach she will often roll over pretty quickly. She's still pretty lazy about rolling from back to stomach even if she really wants a toy that's just out of reach. I'm trying to not just give her whatever she wants and let her struggle a bit to reach things so she learns she can move to get what she wants. She LOVES her baths and as soon as we put her in, she kicks her legs and splashes all around. |
| Girl-ing up a neutral outfit |
This month we had her dedicated at our church. A dedication is similar to a baptism except there is no baptizing. (Ha!) It's a more casual (in my opinion) ceremony in which the parents pledge to raise their child in a Christian home in front of the congregation, who pledge to help them. Our faith is very important to us and we plan to teach Josie about it and we pray she would grow up to follow the Lord as well. Charlie's sister, Sharon and her family came into town for the occasion and were able to meet Josie for the first time! This month also included her first Thanksgiving, and though she didn't indulge in any turkey or stuffing, she seemed to have a great time.
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| I smell something funny |
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| Smiles! |
5 months
Firsts: Meeting Aunt Sharon and Uncle Barry, Thanksgiving
Looking Forward to: First Christmas (!!!), introducing solids
Milestones: Found her feet and chews on them, rolling more often, grabbing with both hands
Likes: Eating, baths, staring at faces, chewing on things
Dislikes: Being by herself, sitting in the backseat of the car without someone
1 comment:
Oh, Josie, You are the Cutest Kid, EVER !
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