Samantha…5th month update

5 October 2013…Today was day six on solids. Today was the first day she gobbled it all down and eagerly awaited each new mouthful, opening her mouth and sucking the puree from the spoon. Today, I was a proud momma. Today she ate one pear puree cube (ice cube size) for lunch, and the same for dinner, plus one tablespoon of baby rice mixed with three tablespoons of breast milk.

In addition to eating solids, Samantha is sitting unsupported by us for short periods of time, although she does lean on her arms. She can roll onto her tummy and back to her back, the latter only under certain circumstances (according to constantly changing rules made up by Samantha). She can lay on her belly supported on her elbows for up to 30 minutes, especially if she’s distracted by the television, and she can push herself up the full length of her arms and hold that position for a few seconds. When she puts her head down, she makes crawling motions with her legs. If she engages her legs a split second before getting her chest back on the ground, she moves forward an inch. This leads onto my next statement, being that she’s commando crawling.

14 October 2013…Last night, Sam did her first 11 hour overnight sleep. I was so proud of her. I thought I’d try cutting out her late feed because she was trying to cut out her 2:30pm feed, and I don’t want her to cut that one for a long time yet. I felt she was trying to tell me that she was ready to cut one of her feeds though, so now she only has four milk feeds (7:00am, 10:45am, 2:30pm, and 5:00pm) and two solid feeds (11:15am and 5:30pm) a day.

She is now eating double portions of baby rice at night, and three cubes of food at lunch. She has now tried pear, apple, carrot and pumpkin. I was doubting how much she was actually eating, as so much ends up everywhere but her mouth, but her poops have changed in texture and smell to solid poops, so I guess more of it is going in than appears to.

She can now sit completely unsupported for a few seconds, particularly if she’s distracted by the TV or the vacuum. When she’s left to her own devises, she constantly works on stretching her vocal chords, rolling and crawling. When she’s with us, she works on her sitting and standing.

 

22 October 2013…The overnight sleeping has been going fairly good. She has been waking up every other night at various times for various issues, and ultimately (after giving medication, water, turning fan on/off or giving a cuddle) wants a feed to resettle. However, she is giving me the distinct impression that she’s not at all hungry, which is one good thing. Hopefully this all settles down over the next couple of weeks.

We’ve ditched the pumpkin for the moment, as it was giving her really bad reflux. However, we have moved on successfully to potato and sweet potato, both of which are definite winners. The vast majority of the food now goes in the mouth instead of down the front. Little greedy guts though finds it hard to stop eating, and will literally eat until she vomits. I guess she got my genes there (not that I eat until I vomit, but I do like to eat until I feel very full).

My weaning book by Gina Ford has arrived, and I now feel like I have somebody holding my hand guiding me as to what to feed my baby. It turns out that she recommends leaving pumpkin until seven months of age, but I didn’t have the book when I tried the pumpkin, with bad consequences. I now look forward to this journey thanks to her guidance, instead of feeling completely bewildered.

Sam is really working on her crawling and desperately wants to follow us, particularly if we leave the room. She is also giggling at me (although I feel sometimes like she’s humouring me). She likes me to growl like I’m a car engine revving, particularly if she starts growling first.