Tag Archives: feeding infants

Baby update – Averie Month 8

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2013 100

I’m getting really good with pushups

I realize I say this every month (and I guess most parents do this), but Month 8 was the best so far.  Averie picked up some super cute skills and finally got into a predictable daytime nap routine, yay!  It only took…oh, 30-ish weeks, I guess?  And the timing couldn’t be any better because we’re planning a family vacation to Palm Springs next week.  This will be the first time going on a trip with both kids and I’m hoping things will go smoothly!

So here go the updates for this month –

Sleeping: As mentioned previously, Averie finally fell into a predictable nap schedule starting around week 30, and she did pretty darn well throughout this month.  She also started sleeping through the night too!!  It’s like something clicked in her brain that made her realize, oh yeah, regular naps + sleeping all night makes me much happier and energized during my awake times.  I was overjoyed, to say the least.

Eating: Pretty much the same as previous months – she eats everything I place in front of her, though I’m still unsure if she’s getting enough breastmilk, especially because she’s been very distracted at the breast the last few weeks and won’t nurse more than 5 minutes at a time.  Still, she has a good amount of wet diapers and seems satisfied after each feeding, so I’m assuming she’s getting enough for now.  I did notice though that ever since she started STTN my supply has taken a huge hit – down about 30% compared to last month.  I try nursing as much as possible on weekends and days off with her, but should I start supplementing with a little formula?

Milestones: Averie mastered sitting up and she loves playing with toys, especially her stacking rings and shape sorter.  She also started practicing her pincer grasp and learned to feed herself dry items like puffs this month, While she learned to roll from back to stomach pretty early on, it took her a long time to learn to roll the opposite way, which is interesting because most babies learn to roll from stomach to back first.  Anyways, the great thing about this is that now she can roll herself onto her back in the middle of the night, instead of getting stuck on her tummy and crying until I come over to help her.

Oh yes, and she got two teeth this month! The cute factor is just overwhelming.  I want to bite her all the time.

Yeah, I can sit up and chill like the adults.

Yeah, I can sit up and chill like the adults.

I’m seeing signs that she’s getting ready to start crawling soon, so we’re going to enjoy this time of limited mobility as much as possible until the day she starts scooting around.  Can’t believe we’re already at this point…!

Baby update – Averie Month 5

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imageUnsurprisingly, the month flew by and I’m late on my 5 month update.  Averie has continued to  grow way too quickly and no matter how much I try to enjoy our time together, I still want more.  It’s especially tough because this is also the busiest time of year for me at work, so even on weekends and days off it’s hard to fully immerse myself in the moment and enjoy her company because I find my mind drifiting off to work-related issues more often than not.  How do other working moms deal with this?  I’m having a hard time trying to maintain some sort of balance.

Anyways, back to updates.

Sleep: Not much to report except that naptimes were still a struggle for most of the month.  However, we reached a breakthrough at the end of month 5 (late February/early March) where her daytime sleep took a turn for the better.  The routine I tried establishing of 2-3 naps ~9am, ~12-1pm, and ~4pm started to work.  Before, she’d cry and cry if she wasn’t rocked or nursed until passed out, and even then oftentimes she’d wake up after 10-20 minutes and start wailing.  Magically, something clicked and she started going down more and more easily starting this time.  Though things are still not perfect, it’s getting better by the day. Nighttime sleep continues to be good – down around 6:30pm with 1 night waking and up around 6:30-7am.  She had her first sleep through the night the first weekend of February (yesss!) which got me super excited.  It’s happened only a few more times since, but honestly I don’t mind our nighttime nursing sessions…they won’t last much longer and I’m going to miss them 😦

Eat: Averie continues to be a champion eater via bottle and breast.  Fortunately she’s been amenable to both and hopefully this will continue.  Pumping is still a pain in the !@#$%^ and I worry that my supply is decreasing but I’m going to plug away for at least another few months.  Developmentally she seems ready for solids and I think I’m going to try her out on cereal this weekend, even though or pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months.  Close enough.

Milestones: I’m amazed by how much she’s changing on a daily basis.  She’s getting better at playing independently, though she gets anxious if someone isn’t nearby and will start fussing a bit.  She loves the playmat and grabs at the little toys attached to the arms.  Her funny “huh-huh” laughs never cease to crack us up.  Towards the end of the month, she started rolling from back to tummy and it’s just so darn CUTE to watch.

imageEveryday I think there’s no way I can love this baby more, only to find myself even more in love the next day.

Baby update – Averie Month 4

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Image(celebrating her 100th day)

Happy Valentine’s Day!  A bit later than usual for Averie’s monthly update but work’s been quite busy and by the time the kids are in bed, I can barely think.  So let me rack my brains and recall what happened developmentally in Month 4:

– Sleeping:  Averie’s nighttime sleeping has continued to be awesome.  Starting the first week of January, she went down between 6:30-7:00 (sometimes even earlier!) and she’s been sleeping until about 7-8am with 1-2 wakings at night (mostly 1).  I know we’re truly blessed with great nighttime sleepers – Aaron goes down around 7:30pm and sleeps like a rock until 6:30-7am.  I can’t recall the last time he woke up at night on his own.  However, we’ve been hit hard with..

– Napping: Nothing’s perfect and Averie’s napping (or lack thereof) definitely attests to that.  She’s never really been as consistent a napper as her brother, and this past month has been pretty bad.  She can go anywhere from 20 minutes-2 hours, but it’s usually about 30-40 minutes and then she’s up.  And she fights naps more and more throughout the day, getting crankier and crankier until she finally passes out at night.  It’s so strange to me how babies can sleep so well at night but poorly in the day.  Short naps seem to be a pretty common occurrence in babies this age, and even has a nickname – the nap intruder.  In a nutshell, she’s having a difficult time transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next, which is why she keeps waking up even though she isn’t completely rested.  Despite trying various tactics, none seems to really jive with her, and I think we’re just going to have to wait until she outgrows this.  I know I shouldn’t complain since she does sleep well at night.

Eating: Judging by the number of her rolls, she’s apparently getting enough to eat and I haven’t had to supplement with formula in weeks.  I’ve been thinking about when to start solids but our pediatrician recommended we wait until she turns 6 months since she’s gaining weight well at this point.  Speaking of rolls, I l-o-v-e them so much!  😀

Other: Developmentally, Averie seems to be hitting most milestones at a good rate.  She’s a champ at holding up her head so we’ve been putting her in the exersaucer, Bumbo, and jumperoo in addition to letting her do tummy time on her playmat.  She grabs at toys (so cute!) and makes funny little faces.  She’s also laughing a lot more now, though her laugh sounds kind of like what a baby linebacker would sound like.  Though she was cooing a lot last month, she’s gotten much quieter this month and doesn’t make as many sounds, perhaps because she’s too busy observing the world around her.  I have a feeling she won’t be as gregarious and outgoing as her brother.

At her 4 month checkup, she was 15.5 lbs and 24.25 inches – growing at a nice rate.  Lately while nursing, she’ll stop and just look up at me with these big, curious eyes and my heart melts.  Watching her grow is such a bittersweet thing – it’s amazing to see all the changes she’s going through, but sad because the time is going way too quickly and soon she won’t be my little baby anymore.  Parenthood brings such mixed emotions!

Product reviews Part 1: Baby gear I love (months 1-6)

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Was anyone else overwhelmed and a little stressed out by the millions of baby products that companies state parents simply CANNOT live without??? I know I was.  Researching everything from boppys to strollers to teethers to onesies was fun at first, but after looking at 10 different strollers, they all started to look the same.  And the sticker shock on some items…yikes!

So to justify those countless hours of research, I’m posting some reviews of products that I truly love, with the hope that it can help other parents (current or future)  help differentiate and ultimately select the ones that are right for them.

Since every family and child is unique, reading product reviews from people with similar situations as ourselves really helped. So here’s a little bit about us:

– Lifestyle: first-time parents, both working full-time
– Baby gender: boy
– Help: minimal help from parents/relatives; A. in daycare starting at 3 months
– Housing: single-story house with front & backyard; minimal storage space
– Feeding: breastfed with occasional formula supplements

So on with the reviews!

Love #1: The First Years Close & Secure Sleeper

Our friend let us borrow this for a few months and swore we’d love it.  I, in my pre-mommyhood ignorance, had no idea anything like this even existed.  But she was right  – little A. was super snug in it during naps and bedtime, and its portability made it easy to have him sleep anywhere from the living room in the day to his crib at night.  We tried co-sleeping with him but after a week of us getting zero sleep, we moved him into his room, and he was perfectly happy sleeping on his own when he was snuggled up in this co-sleeper.  We used the co-sleeper until A. was about 2 months old.

Love #2: Boppy

I had a really, really tough time getting the hang of breastfeeding (more on that painful experience in a future post).  Every mom swears by the Boppy when feeding infants and it was definitely super useful, especially in the first few months.  Having a support pillow helped reduce the strain on my back and shoulders from hunching over and contorting into awkward positions during feeding time.  Another item borrowed from a friend 🙂

Love #3: Summer Infant Color Video Monitor


Omg, this was and still is the best thing we received on our baby registry.  The LCD monitor is perched on our bedside table, and the handheld monitor goes everywhere around the house with us when A’s sleeping.  Screen resolution is excellent with lighting and the night-vision is pretty good too (just a little eerie at first).  You can turn the screen on/off and adjust noise level/screen brightness  very easily.  Battery life on the portable unit is pretty good, too.  We still love watching A sleep at night 15 months later!

Love #4: Ikea Gulliver Crib

The bedrooms in our house are quite small, and we had to keep our guest bed in the room that we converted into A’s nursery.  Given this constraint, we decided on the Ikea Gulliver crib and absolutely love it. We were a bit concerned that it might be too small, but even now at 15 months, little A. still has plenty of room to toss and turn all night. Along with the Spelevink mattress, we’re extremely happy with its design and functionality (not to mention the awesome price tag!)

These items all exceeded my expectations, and I heartily recommend them to everyone.  Let me know if you want more details and I’ll be happy to provide more information!