Graham Five Month Update…

I feel like I just posted Graham’s four-month update…time flies.

Eat…

We started solids this month (just rice cereal). It seems to take him a few spoonfuls to catch on how to eat at each feeding. He’s doing better with his attention span which helps. Thankfully rice cereal has seemed to help with his reflux issues. I only give him cereal once a day.

In addition to cereal, he drinks five, six to eight ounce bottles in a 24 hour period.

Sleep…

This month he had a few nights where he woke up at like 12 am or 2am to eat which is out of character for him. Then the past few nights he has slept 11 hours straight. Typically though, he goes down around 7pm and wakes up anywhere between 4:30-5:30am then back down till 7 or 8am. He falls back to sleep easily after his “middle of the night” feeding; he’ll just lay his head on my shoulder…so sweet.

Naps are another story. He takes 3 naps a day, but they typically only last 30-45 minutes which isn’t long enough because he doesn’t wake up rested. I think he’s waking up after his first sleep cycle ends, and doesn’t know how to sooth back to sleep on most days. I’m not to sure how to help this except sometimes he’ll cry himself back to sleep.

Thankfully he’s a good night sleeper.

Play…

I feel like every month he gets more fun and it’s so interesting seeing him develop new skills. He began reacting and anticipating games like “this little piggy.” Besides his play mat, he enjoys his johnny jump-up. He hasn’t figured out how to jump much, but he likes to twirl and thinks he’s pretty cool standing by himself. Reading books began to peak his interest this month.

Miscellaneous…

• On 3/20 he rolled over from back to front and has only rolled one other time, so I think it was a fluke. 🙂
• Everything goes into his mouth or at least attempts to chew on everything. He gets so frantic when chewing and when we take it away he gets mad and screams…he’s kind of dramatic.
• He is beginning to have some stranger danger.
• He’s just under 20 lbs. and a bit under 28 inches long…he’s a chub.
• He wears 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

It’s amazing how quickly he is growing and learning. Even though he’s a lot of work; he brings such joy and a smile to our face each day.

 

 

 

 

What I’ve Learned {number 4}…

Once in a while I’m going to write a short post about something I’ve learned on this adventure called motherhood.

#4: When shopping I’ve noticed people gazing longer at me, but really they’re not looking at me at all (which is good). Rather, they are staring longer to see the baby in the cart. It took a bit to get used to, but I’m finding that baby’s are good conversation starters.

Starting Solids…

At Graham’s four-month well-baby check-up his pediatrician said to start him on solids to hopefully help with his “happy reflux” issues (he spits up all day long, but not at night). Even though, the spitting up doesn’t seem to bother him, it’s still not good for him. I was really hoping to wait till 6 months to start solids (I didn’t want to deal with the hassle), so we’ll probably just do rice cereal for now then start on other foods at 6 months. I bought some brown rice and ground it up to powder then cooked and froze it, so when he’s ready to eat I mix the rice with a bit of formula. It’s pretty simple and he doesn’t seem to mind the taste. I may try oatmeal once I’m out of rice just because I think it would grind to powder form easier.

I haven’t really been able to get many good pictures of his solids eating experience, but below are his first few days of eating. His high-chair (thanks to Jacob’s sisters!) has worked well; it’s nice that the chair can recline a bit.

Happy before getting food.

It’s a struggle not to play with our bib. I have to hold his hands down while eating.

It’s serious business eating. He’s doing better than I expected when it comes to eating the food, and some days he does better than others. He doesn’t have a very long attention span for eating yet. So far, I haven’t seen a big difference in his spitting up, since he isn’t getting a lot of cereal yet.

I’m not using the main tray so the one pictured is a little one that the big tray hooks too. The little tray works well to hold the bowl since he’s not eating off the tray.

Graham Four Month Update…

Growth:

Length: 27 1/2 inches (off the charts. Dr. said he is the length of a 7 month old…no wonder people think he is older than he actually is :)).

Weight: 17.12 lbs. (88th percentile)

Head: 43 cm (88th percentile)

New This Month:

• Started pulling up his legs and then rolling on his side, but that’s as far as he gets.
• Beginning to like peek-a-boo. He just smiles every time but doesn’t laugh at it yet.
• Sleeping unswaddled. He is sleeping great at night (generally 7:30 to 4-5:30ish then back down after eating till about 7:30ish). Naps are another story, He used to be a decent napper when swaddled, so we’re working on taking naps unswaddled. He takes short naps but isn’t really rested. I have found that putting socks over his hands has helped though.
• He lost almost all of his hair this month except for a little in the back.
• Started grabbing toys with two hands. He gets frustrated sometimes because he can’t grab something very easily yet.
• Drool in Graham’s life isn’t a new thing, but it has increased. Jacob says Graham has one drool setting…Max drool. Everything goes to his mouth and he goes through several bibs or shirts a day. I think we have a long road ahead of teething.
• He has really started finding his voice the last couple of weeks. He will lay on the floor and just shriek in a very high-pitched voice.
• Is much more interactive than last month.