Hello, hello. Another 2 weeks gone by. I can’t believe my girl is going to be half a year old next week. Crazy talk! We are celebrating by giving Adriana her first solid food sometime in the next couple weeks. Par-tee time. From what I’ve heard from many of you, I’m not expecting much to happen in the actual eating department – it’s more about exploration right now – but I’m excited anyway! We’re going to set up the video camera and tape her first bites. I might pee my pants.
Once we start solids my plan is to always nurse her before feeding solids, so she still gets most of her calories/nutrients from breast milk. I read this will also prevent my milk supply from taking a nose dive. It’s funny though, Adriana has really taken notice of our food in the past week. Some days she downright gawks at us with her mouth agape, watching the fork go to our mouth. Do you think she’s trying to tell us something?! Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes!
The big topic in the last update was that Adriana figured out how to roll in the crib in her Merlin sleep suit. We always said that when she started to roll in the Merlin we would stop using it because we were worried about her getting stuck on her belly (the suit is quite stiff). So we purchased a sleep sack to keep her warm, but with more peace of mind that her hands are completely free and her legs have lots of room to move too. At first I thought that she hated the sleep sack, but in retrospect I don’t think it was the Halo at all; I think it was simply her frustration with rolling in the crib – a totally new experience for her. She wasn’t used to waking up on her tummy and wasn’t sure what to do. I always read that when babies learn a new skill they can be quite fussy while they are mastering it. Everytime she’d wake up she would scream until one of us came in to flip her. That got old fast, haha. There was one week where we were waking up 8 times a night…exhausting! I knew that if we stuck with it and gently helped her along she would pick it up and become comfortable with it in no time. And that’s exactly what happened. Now it’s no big deal! And she seems to enjoy the Halo too. But man oh man, this girl loves her tummy sleep. As soon as I put her down in the crib the legs go up and she rolls to her tummy. I’m much more comfortable with it now and I’m not staring at the monitor all night long, so my sleep has improved too! We’ll chalk that one up to a “mommy leap”.
One unexpected bonus of tummy sleep has been her skin. She had scaly patches on her cheeks for the longest time (nothing helped much) and sleeping on her tummy made it go away completely. I think it’s due to the moisture from her drool and the damp sheet under her face! Weird, right? Eric says we’ve unlocked the cure for winter dry skin – just drool a bit more!
One new thing that she’s been doing for a week or two now is that when she wakes up in the middle of the night she’s often super hyper and ready to play. I like to call it her “middle of the night squeak-a-thon” – it tends to only happen if she’s had a long 4-5 hour stretch of sleep. We try our best to calm her down, but it’s the nursing that really does it.
Wake-ups: Lately, she goes down for bed by 7pm (depending on her last nap wake up), and wakes for a feed around 12:30-1am and then another at 5-5:30am. She wakes up at other points in the night, but will soothe herself back to sleep. Everyone says solids will help with her overnight sleep, so I’m sure we will see gradual improvements with time…
Recent milestones: Adriana is still rolling lots and rotating her body while on the floor, push-ups (fully extending arms underneath her), sucking her thumb (we saw her suck her thumb for the first time ever this weekend…late bloomer!), flailing arms and legs trying to crawl but getting nowhere (thank goodness). Still lots of squeaking, laughing, and babbling going on. She also responds to her name and will turn her head to look at the person. (We actually had to stop calling her “Monkey” for a while because we realized she’d never learn her actual name! haha). We have also been practicing sitting, but she isn’t sitting on her own unassisted yet. Her new nickname is “Bam, Bam” – Eric gave her this name after she started hitting the crib mattress with her right fist (it’s her new thing). It’s random, but super cute!
Naps: I’m happy to say that her naps have increased in duration lately! Where she was once napping just 30 minutes at a time for most naps, now she is regularly cranking out 75 minute naps, sometimes less sometimes a bit more. This has resulted in much more productive parents and a much happier baby. We tried a few things to help with her naps: 1) We have quiet time before a nap and try not to overstimulate her within 20-30 minutes of napping, 2) We follow her sleep signs and put her down after we see a few yawns, tired eyes. Previously we tried to keep her awake for 2 hours before the first morning nap, but I found that was a bit too long for her most mornings. She goes down easier if she isn’t super tired and seems to sleep longer. So we’re just following her lead basically. 3) Instead of rushing into her room when she first wakes up, I leave her for a bit to play on her own. Often she is content to just talk to herself and stare at the mobile. Sometimes she will fall back to sleep, sometimes not. I think in the past we might have rushed in to get her too soon. It’s all trial and error! Other times, I can tell that there’s no way she’s going to go back to sleep. One issue we’ve had is that since her teething is ramping up, she has been SOAKING her crib sheet in drool. Poor girl! So we sometimes have to change her position in the crib if it’s taking her a while to fall asleep or if it’s really bad swap the sheet out for a new one.
Nursing: Possible growth spurt last week – one day she napped 4 hours which is a record lately. She seemed to be extra rough one day and I was super sore for over a week on one side. It brought me back to the early days of breastfeeding! Luckily, it has healed up now and I’m no longer cringing my entire body when she latches. Her favourite thing to do while nursing lately is touch my face. She will look up at me and touch my face or she will just randomly touch my face as she feeds. It melts my heart. We still have best success nursing in a dark room which is free from a lot of distractions. If we’re in a brightly lit room I can usually guarantee she won’t nurse more than 5 minutes.
Hair: I haven’t updated our hair falling out in a while. I’m happy to say that her hair is growing like a weed lately and my own hair loss has almost returned to normal. My bald patches near my temples are filling in with wispy hairs so it doesn’t look as noticeable as it did a couple months ago. Progress! I still have quite a few awkward small hairs popping out, but oh well what can ya do.
Recently, I cut a few inches off my hair and got extra layers, but I’ve been thinking about chopping my hair off at my collarbone (or just below) for summer (which would be another 4-5 or so inches off). It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a long time and I’ve found some gorgeous cuts on Pinterest for inspiration. I’ve had short hair in the past a couple times and didn’t love it, so that’s what is holding me back. I just think it might have been the wrong cut though…
Exercise: Feel like I’m getting into a great routine with exercise again .We had a few days of nice weather (5-8C) so I got out on a few stroller walks. It was soooo nice! I’ve been getting back into weights (still loving/hating Madonna arms and Pilates butt workout videos), and introduced side planks again too. I always find my motivation ramps up in the spring! Buh bye winter blahs.
Baby proofing: Currently looking into baby proofing the house. Eek! We want to be ready before she starts crawling, so I want to look into it sooner rather than later. I think I might have a baby proofing company come to the house for a consultation since I’m pretty clueless. Any tips parents?
Ok, this was another huge update. I always have more to say than I think! Let me know how you are doing this month! Any stories about introducing your baby to solids you’d like to share? How did it go? By the way, thanks for all your stories in my last post…so much fun to read!
Stay tuned for a post on designing a playroom. I will show you guys a blank slate and ask for opinions! Can’t wait. :)
She’s so beautiful! Not a parent so I have no tips but I do love reading about her progress. I can now carry a conversation with my friends who are having babies. “Sleep regression? Oh yeah I’ve heard that’s rough” ;)
haha Lauren that’s hilarious! They are going to think you are the baby whisperer. lol.
I can’t believe she’s going to be 6 months old!!! SO happy to hear sleeping has improved recently. Yay!
Adriana is adorable! Nothing sweeter than those toothless baby grins and belly laughs:) When my youngest started solids, I was a bit of a maverick…I started a little early because she nursed about every hour from the moment she was born. I thought solids would help but guess what? She nursed as much as ever, even with solids. She just loved nursing. Since she was a bit younger, I started with organic brown rice cereal. I mixed it really thin because I thought it would be easier for her. She HATED it, screamed, kicked, thrashed, you name it. So after a few attempts I mixed it into a thicker consistency, we nursed, she literally devoured the cereal in seconds, then nursed again about 30 minutes later. And again an hour after that…you get the picture. But we had fun as she got older with avacadoes, sweet potatoes, spinach and kale…combos are endless! Have fun:)
Adriana is so cute – those cheeks are out of control adorable! I have a 5 1/2 week old daughter who is just starting to think about going to sleep on her own. Reading about Adriana’s bedtime and how much she sleeps sounds like a dream come true, lol!
Hang in there, Mary! Five hours of sleep is ‘sleeping through the night’ for a LO. The most important is if you feel well rested :) I have to hit the hay around 9 to feel that way: seriously! But my DD2 is three weeks younger than yours is. Your adorable DD will start consolidating her sleep when she is ready :)
I once asked a woman, who was Indian, how they get their children to eat spicy foods (curries, dals, etc) and she said when their children start watching them eat, they will put little bits of the sauce on the child’s tongue to get them used to the taste. They give no sweets (not even fruits) the first two years so the child adjusts to savory food and does not develop a sweet tooth. Sounds like good advice. Good luck trying to get others to not give sweets.
Looks like you two are both doing great! What a cutie. :) Aw, the nursing cuddles are just about the sweetest thing in the world, right? My 16 month old has a cute habit she developed at 12 months: every time she nurses, she has to stick her little hands in my sleeves, or up my shirt..wherever she can have skin-to-skin contact with me. I melt every time. :-)
Hmm, introducing solids…we started with sweet potato. She liked it but I made it much too thick, so after that I was very careful to thin it out with breast milk or water (usually water…sacrificing precious pumped milk to thin out foods she may or may not eat got old really fast!). Just a word of warning: I remember being so sleep deprived at that time that I was counting on the solids to make a big, immediate difference in her sleep. Unfortunately, no dice! Despite steadily increasing the solids, including cereals in evening bottles of my breast milk, it still took several months for my little one to sleep well at night. Try not to get too frustrated if that’s the case for you, too (which I hope it isn’t!).
As for baby-proofing, I’m not the one to ask since our place still isn’t fully “baby-proofed,” but I think the best advice is to remember that there is no such thing as “baby proofing;” watching them like a hawk is the only way to prevent most accidents.
Have fun with the solids!
awesome advice, thanks!
Solids did not help my boys sleep longer unfortunately. Haha don’t get discouraged if better sleep doesn’t happen after solids. Hunger isn’t always the reason for babies waking up, so I just rolled with it. :) I’ve never done cereal in bottle as I’ve read it can be a choking hazard. With my first, I started with rice cereal, but he didn’t care for it. With my 2nd, I skipped rice cereal and started with sweet potatoes. Just for your info, if Adriana puts food in her mouth and pushes the food out with her tongue, that means she hasn’t lost the tongue thrust reflex yet and may not be ready for solids.
As for baby proofing, I’ve only done baby gates and the electric outlet protectors. Best thing to do is to watch her like hawk and if you need to get something done and can’t watch her, put her in a safe place like a playpen with some toys.
Good luck and have fun with solids! :)
P.S. Adriana is just beautiful <3
hah very good point!! You are so right. There are so many reasons a baby wakes up. Too many actually, haha. ;) It’ll be interesting to see how it goes!
We didn’t go TOO crazy with babyproofing before our guy started crawling and it actually worked out better for us I think. It seemed easier to “proof” as we went along. We watch(ed) our kid like a hawk though.
Aww she is getting so big! I was wondering, I have an 8 month old daughter and I cannot put her down before nursing her for her naps. She also is terrible at putting herself to sleep… Do you just lay Adriana down awake and she puts herself to sleep?
Yea we struggle with this too. I had been nursing her right before naps for a while and then I tried spacing it out a bit more (so I’ll feed her like 10-15 minutes before putting her down, but timing varies) and it takes her much longer to fall asleep when there is that gap. When I nurse her right before putting her down she will fall asleep quickly (usually, not always). The overnight feeds are always immediately to bed of course though. There are so many opinions on everything sleep/parenting I think you just need to trust your instincts. I’m trying not to worry too much as I realize in the grand scheme of things the time flies by way too fast! Sorry I know this probably doesn’t help in the slightest. :)
No I compleatly agree with you! Overnight feedings are the same for us, we have no problem gong back to sleep after nursing. I have had so many people tell me to just let her cry it out. We tried a few times, but in the end I just can’t do it. She gets so worked up and it’s sad to know that all she wants is me. I know it works great for some, and if it did work for us I would totally do it:-)
Apparently the solids = longer sleep is a myth! Boo. We started solids the week Nora turned six months, giving her roasted sweet potatoes, roasted zucchini (her favorite!), avocado, banana, broccoli with hummus etc as finger foods. The first week she just played around with it (but a surprising amount made it into her diaper…), but now she has totally caught on and has figured out how to gum the food and swallow, so I think it’s time to try more adventurous foods…eep! Our pediatrician says he gives all parents homework at the six month checkup, and that is to have the baby try to feed itself and to give her food with lots of flavor and spices!
Nora had those middle-of-the-night squeak parties too, it lasted for three weeks or so. After a couple of nights, I stopped going in to feed her during those, because I realized that once she was done squeaking, she just quietly fell asleep on her own. Babies are weird, man.
a myth? that doesn’t surprise me. Oh well, sometimes hope is all you need to get through a rough patch! haha. Good luck with your feeding, sounds like it’s progressing nicely.
Yes they sure are oddballs…so hard to figure out at times!
Like Ingunn above, we started finger foods at six months. If you look into Baby Led Weaning (BLW) as your method of introducing solids you will find a lot of great information. Our girls first food was roasted sweet potatoes (cut long ways like fries) and she just picked it up and ate it. It was amazing! She is 21 months now and eats everything herself. In the beginning it may be a bit messier, but it is wonderful to watch her eat, play and discover all on her own – while I get to enjoy my own meal! I know it’s not for everyone, but it has worked out wonderfully for our family. Just don’t stress – food before one is just for fun! I continued to nurse on demand as her primary source of nutrition and didn’t see any impact on my supply. Good luck!
Hi Alexis, we also did BLW and the first food my babies got was a whole organic pear–just handed it to them and start the camera rolling. It’s too big to choke on. Ange, you might like freezing little avocado bits in an ice cube tray and dispensing as needed: in fact bits of sweet potato can also freeze beautifully like that. Like you I always bf first and then offered a solid just once a day in the beginning, gradually offering solids more often, supply kept up great and I was able to stop pumping at work at a year. Angela, you might like to offer a solid at first during the fussiest time of day, or when Adriana appears to have the most teething discomfort, or when you need a break. Have you tried offering a washcloth with a corner dipped in water, then frozen, for teething discomfort? Cold things are nice for aching gums.
She is so adorable! When it came to baby proofing other than electrical sockets (our house is one level so no worries about stairs etc) we really just baby proofed as we went – keeping an eye of her etc but there are things in the house (like my husbands record player) that we wanted her to learn she shouldn’t touch and that actually worked really well. I’m all for getting rid of unnecessary risks etc but I was also aware that grandparents houses/aunties and uncles places etc were unlikely to be baby proofed to so it was important she developed an understanding of what she could and couldn’t do! If that makes sense (not the lost articulate today!!). Have fun with solids!
Very good point! I was just reading something suggesting that very approach.
We didn’t baby-proof our house, we house-proofed our babies! Little ones are very trainable and you can’t depend on everywhere you go to be baby-proofed. All six of our children did just fine and never had issues get hurt or breaking things.
Good luck introducing solids! It is a really fun time and makes for great photo ops. I found that it’s a lot of trial and error. My little guy just turned seven months and still is not a huge fan of solids. Some he tolerates (avocado, sweet potato) and some he can’t get out of his mouth fast enough (homemade apple sauce). More usually ends up down his face, neck and front than in his mouth.
He loves nursing so much and gets so excited when it’s time. If my husband and I are talking during, he’ll put his hand up to my mouth like, “Quiet, Mom. I’m eating here.” It is really funny.
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/top-tips-for-safer-products/
Mimi Kirk shared that and i thought of you! :) she is so cayuute
(the baby) lol
She is getting so big! And those big blue eyes!
Like Lauren I can’t comment on any cute/funny baby stories/tips, but I now feel more in-the-loop when my friends talk about their children haha. I thoroughly love reading your stories and everyone’s comments.
Hi Angela,
Your Adriana is such a beautiful little girl! I am not planning to have any children any time soon but reading your posts reassures me that if I’ll ever have a baby I will be definitely be able to cope. I guess nobody ever tells you how it really feels to start such a big adventure and I appreciate the effort you are making in keeping your readers updated.
Furthermore, I love your blog and I find your recipes easy to make (I am not an amazing cook) and so so delicious!
Thanks for all this!
xx G
Hi Angela, great update! Glad to hear you are gaining some traction in the hair and exercise departments. Congratulations little Adriana – almost six months now! She is amazing. FWIW ont he baby proofing companies they exist to sell you all the products that you might need, and not every baby is tempted by everything. It depends on your budget. I have never heard of them in BE so didn’t use one with my two preschoolers. I recommend checkng the babyproofing section in Dr Sears’ Baby Book for their list: it included an exhaustive list from his pediatrics practice including no setting heavy items on tablecloths as LOs can gab and drag a tablecloth off. Now my elder children were never tempted by our tablecloth, but one imagines a babyproofing company would have been glad to sell me a tablecloth guard. One of my daughter’s creche friends would toss potatoes in the toilet (!) so they would have benefitted from a toilet guard, but my children never fooled around with the loo, so once again… as you se where this is heading, it may be worth it to get some inexpensive common sense items that will reassure you to have around (stair gate, for example), then just observe Adriana for her temptations and buy according to those. HTH! Uh-oh baby Charlotte has just started her evening cluster feed.
We lived in a split-level house (so many stairs), but when it came to baby-proofing for my little sister, I recall my parents didn’t go overboard. Kitchen cabinet locks were a biggie and at least one baby gate depending on the layout of your home or which rooms you spend the most time in. Other things will come once you gradually learn what she’s interested in getting into.
Those kitchen cabinet locks are weird at first, but after a while you’ll become a master at removing them when you need to get something fast!