5 months already?!?!? I feel like I just did his 4 month post. Every month he changes so much! Keaton is developing quite the personality...loves to smile and "talk" to everyone and anyone. My little man is not so little any more. He is now doing the following:
- Grabbing his feet every chance he can get
- Eating cereal every morning (barley, oatmeal or rice) and doing awesome with eating off a spoon
- Rolling over constantly (although he seems to forget how to roll from belly to back and gets stuck)
- Moved up to size 3 diapers and size 6-9 months clothes
- Holding his bottle (with minimal assistance)
Some things that he is doing that is not so fun....
- Now that he wants to roll over on his belly all the time he is starting to do this at night. Once he gets to his belly he doesn't want to be there and since he seems to forget how to roll back he wakes up SCREAMING! I try to run over and roll him back over before he gets too worked up but it never works. He is screaming his head off and won't stop. All the shhhhing and patting (without picking him up) does squat!!!! You have to pick him up to calm down. He is waking up screaming now (because he is on his belly) around 9:30pm, 12:30am and 4:00am EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT and taking about 20-30 minutes to calm him down each time! UGH! I miss my baby that only wakes up once a night (not screaming either), even sleeping through the night, to eat quick and goes right back down. I sure hope this passes soon!!!! It may be some teething issues too, I'm not sure.
- Naps!!! UGH...these are frustrating and I'm at my wits end with them. I am happy to have him on a consistent nap schedule (8am, 12:30pm (small cat nap) and 3:30pm) but he will not do the crib or any other place other than in my arms! This means I spend about 4 hours a day up in the nursery sitting in the rocking chair holding him to sleep. Every day around his nap times, I take him upstairs, turn off the lights, turn on his lullaby music and "dance" around the room with him until he gets drowsy and sometimes attempt the crib but most of the time I just sit down with him and let him nap to avoid Screamfest 2009. He knows the routine though...as soon as I walk into the room and put that music on he starts calming down to sleep (with little fussing). I guess I have some progress there but I plan to work on the next phase after Christmas to not stress myself out too much. So I will continue to sit in his room with him for about 4 hours of my day until I work on the next phase. It does force me to relax and maybe get a couple minutes of shut eye. I play games on my blackberry if I'm not relaxing. Oh, the things us mothers do for our children!!!! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
Other than that...he is a very happy boy and he makes us smile every day!!! Below are some pics of my little guy. Enjoy!
3 comments:
Wow, 5 months! It is crazy how fast time goes!
The only suggestion I have about his naps are what my sitter did with Natalie when I went back to work...she would do what your doing and when she got drowsy laid her down and if she cried, she would let her cry for like 5 minutes then go in pick her up, she would of course fall asleep and then she could lay her down. Each day she would let her cry just a tad longer and I would say within a week or two Natalie was going asleep on her own. I know your frustrations, we had the same problem with Natalie the first few months and we think it was because I held her for the 12 weeks I was off work and she just got so use to it. I am sure it will get better for you! Hang in there!
Merry christmas!
I hope this improves for you soon. Thank goodness for the time to relax, cuddle your baby, and for your blackberry but I imagine it would be very difficult to sit there for 4 hours a day! That's downtime for you that you aren't really getting. My only advice is to keep trying to transfer him to the crib once he is asleep at first. If he wakes up and cries, see if he'll settle, if not, pick him up and try again. Then maybe try to transfer him when he is drowsy. We used this gradual progression with Ethan when we were trying to wean him off of being rocked to sleep for naps. When I became frustrated I would set time limits for myself such as, I'll rock him until this time and then try to put him in the crib. Honestly, he grew out of it though. He went from sleeping in the swing for every nap, to being rocked to sleep and sleeping in his crib, to putting himself to sleep in his crib.
Good luck Lesli!!
Lesli,
My suggestion.. do a routine (we say goodnight to her animals, hugs and kisses, etc and then I put her down and walk out.) At first, it is so hard, but they learn so quick. It took us a few days and she now goes down with an issue. However, she is a harder sell for me then for anyone else. If she's really crying, I'll go in, pat her toosh and remind her that I love her but that its nap time, and then I walk back out (this way you can tell if something is really wrong).
Email me anytime!
Carrie
carrie6@ptd.net
PS- I just love that smile in his high chair!!
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