Week 27
My baby boy officially turned 6 months this week. Where on earth did that time go?!!! I cannot imagine a life without my little Paddington and love him more everyday. Honestly, I never knew that love like this was possible. He is my sunshine, my bundle of joy, my cuddle monster, my world, my buddy and my bear and he has given me the best, and most challenging/hardest/most sleep deprived and emotional 6 months of my life. And do you know what? I would change any of it. Honest. Here's what happened in this milestone week.
1. Adventures in Weaning
The weaning has begun and man is it fun! I love watching his expression as he tries new foods and seeing him delight in squishing food between his fingers and getting it all over his face. We are doing a combi of baby led weaning and home made purées and so far he has at least tried a little of everything I have given him which is great. We have been introducing one new food a day to get him used to the new sensations and tastes slowly and to look out for any allergies as we go. He seems really interested in food, and in the bowl and spoon in particular, and knows exactly what to do with them. It is of course also fun to just chew them and drop them on the floor.
We have been trying to wean around lunchtime most days but it isn't always possible when we have a busy day out and about, so if we miss the lunch slot, then we have been doing it early evening instead which seems to have worked out well for us so far.
I am most grateful for buying him a wipe clean neoprene bib with sleeves as the food has been getting all over him and he has been having water in his doidy cup which after a few attempts at me showing him what to do with the cup and him having a few sips of water which always gives him the best 'wtf?!' expression, he has been having a go himself and basically tipping water all down himself and into his lap. The bib is brilliant and has saved a lot of stains on clothes, however it is definitely not baby waterproof! We also have a plastic cloth under the high chair which I would totally recommend as it's easy to wipe mushed dropped food off afterwards and saves washing the floor.
For feeding, we just went with a Tommee Tippee explorer bowl and spoon which he really likes as they are bright and nice to chew it would seem, and we have a doidy cup which was recommended as apparently it is better for breastfed babies who aren't used to a plastic teat or bottle, and helps them to learn to drink from a cup sooner and easier so we will see if it lives up to the hype!
Here's what has been on the menu and how it went down:
Potato. This was Padster's first food and his expression upon trying it was priceless. He looked at me with a mix of disgust, intrigue and shock before swallowing it down and going for another taste so it can't have been that bad. It must be really weird to have something with a new flavour and texture in your mouth when you have only had milk from a boob. The thing about potato that I didn't really know is that it dries really sticky and is then a pain to wipe off faces, bibs and high chairs, so my advice to myself for the future is wipe it up as soon as we're done!
He ate about 1/2 tsp in total I reckon with some water to help wash it all down and his first experience of solids made him very sleepy. He fell asleep on the boob, which I gave him as his pudding if you like and a treat for doing so well with the food, with sticky dried potato all over his gorgeous face.
Broccoli. This gets everywhere in really fine little specks of green dust. He really wanted to use the spoon himself this time and wasn't interested in me feeding him, which is good I suppose as it shows he is interested and wants ownership of his feed time. He probably ate about 1/2 tsp again but am not sure the flavour of broccoli was a winner. He looked quite doubtful and unimpressed with he taste and brought bits of it to the front of his mouth more as if he was about to spit it out, but credit to him, he didn't. Puréed broccoli with water isn't the tastiest thing in the world I agree.
Cauliflower. This was a surprise hit! He ate almost a whole tsp in all and seemed to like it the best so far, but he has been trumping like crazy since!
Green beans. Another success. He swallowed around 3/4 of a tsp probably and looked fairly content with what was in his mouth. Quite hard to scrub off his cloth bib though as I found a few crusty leftovers in the elasticated cuffs the next day. Better scrubbing next time.
Swede. To be honest, swede really is a bit bland isn't it? He took a few tastes but then he spat this one out down his chin, the only food he has rejected so far actually so probably not a favourite and I don't really blame him. Is swede anybody's fav veg I wonder?!
Courgette. This one seemed to go down pretty well. It tastes surprisingly sweet in puréed form and he had about 1/2 tsp or so I'd say. He was most interested in banging the bowl for this feed though which produced a nice fine spray of green sludge as the courgette purée got thrown about too.
Butternut squash. A hit. He was very interested in the flavour and ate a good teaspoon or more. He managed to get this all up his sleeve as well as all over his face and his chair so that was extra fun to clean!
Aubergine. He seemed particularly hungry for this and kept going back for more, however he did have little red marks on his face afterwards - possibly from where he had been vigorously chomping down on the bowl, but it also seemed to be where he had gotten bits of aubergine on his face so possible allergic reaction to this one sadly.
This is a really fun milestone and I am enjoying starting Pads off on his culinary journey. Also, he is still getting his nutrition and calories from my milk and having the same amount of feeds pretty much which I have to admit I am happy about as I am not ready to be 2nd fiddle to food - though I know that day is coming soon!
2. He has officially found his junk!
My boy has dangly bits and he has just discovered the male joy of squeezing and playing with them, usually before and after his bath and some nappy changes too. He also tries to have a feel sometimes when he is in his nappy and can't seem to quite figure out where his junk has gone bless him! And so begins a lifetime of hands down his trousers like every other male on the planet.
3. Be persistent and consistent!
I am trying my own sleep training after months of next to no sleep and consistent nights of shattered fragments of sleep have taken their toll. I also think that at 6 months old he is ready to be trained to sleep better. I was going to read up on different methods and pick and choose the bits I wanted to do to make our own tailor made programme, but in all honesty, I couldn't be bothered to read the huge books written by so-called experts who don't know me, my baby or our circumstances and preferences (why are baby sleep books all so chunky and long, and who has time to read them?!!!), so I have made up my own first phase of sleep training.
It begins with getting little man back into sleeping in his cot (still in his Sleepyhead - which is supposed to last him until he is 8 months old anyway, though his legs are hanging off the end of it already! - as we need to take things one step at a time here!) and this time, all night.
I am calling it cot training (I was feeling very literal when I named it). I have to be strict with myself here more than anything not to just allow him to fall asleep in, and most crucially, stay sleeping in our bed. The ultimate goal is to get us all more and better sleep but this week my goal was just to get him used to sleeping back in his cot again and to wake less, and thus feed less, during the night.
So my new rules are:
- Must keep trying to get Pads to sleep in the cot until 6am. Then I am allowed to bring him into the bed for a morning snooze after our first feed.
- Limit night feeds to a maximum of 3 if possible and continue doing them lying in bed, but as soon as he is finished/falls asleep move him back to the cot, don't let him sleep deeply there in the bed - maximum 15 mins of bed sleep allowed.
- When he wakes crying, do everything within myself to not pick him up and cuddle him. Try and soothe him still lying in the cot for up to an hour max.
- Keep not rushing in when he cries to see if he will go back to sleep on his own for a little longer than normal, but don't let him cry it out, so maximum 1 minute of crying (I can never make it to a minute though!).
- Try and soothe him by another means than just me so that perhaps, one day, his dad or someone else can help get him back to sleep! I am trying white noise in the form of Ewan the dream sheep - other sleep aids are of course available - and also popping his sheep comforter Woolly on him (I last tried to get him using Woolly as a sleep aid back when he was only several weeks old, it didn't work then cos he was too young but apparently from 6 months on, babies are supposed to be able to be sleep trained. We'll see....) in the cot to try and get him attached to it and use it for comfort when he wakes.
- Be persistent and consistent!
Here's the diary of our first week of cot training:
Day 1
It took him a while to properly get to sleep so his 1st waking was 5 mins after nodding off in bed because he wanted 2nd boob, then he slept for an hour in the bed before his 2nd waking - oops, broke a rule already there but I was nervous about not getting any sleep at all and old habits die hard! Then he did another 15 mins of sleep before his 3rd waking. So far, so as it has been for a while so things weren't looking good.
I told myself I had to (wo)man up and be stricter on us both if we were to make a change to our sleep for the better, so I gave him a final feed and he zonked out and I got him straight into his cot where he slept for 6 hours in 2 hour stints through the night!
After the first 2 hours it took over an hour to get him back to sleep as I didn't pick him up and cuddle him as he is used to. I tried singing, stroking, ssshing and he kept almost dozing off then fighting it, so I let him lay there and only intervened when the crying got too much, mostly he just lay there babbling or whining.
Out of sheer desperation and a need to get us all back to sleep I half heartedly switched on Ewan the (t@$tting) dream sheep, as we had renamed him because he had been completely useless - up until now. Pads was transfixed, staring at the soft red glow of Ewan's tum and calmed by the white noise and he drifted peacefully off to sleep for another 2 hours in the cot all by himself! I nearly peed myself with excitement at this.
The 5th time he woke I turned Ewan on hoping for the same sleep miracle, it wasn't as instant but with a few head strokes and tummy pats from me when the crying got loud, it was less than half an hour before he was back to sleep again for 2 hours!
The 6th waking was him needing a feed and I then put him back into his cot awake, with Ewan on and in less than 15 minutes Ewan had him back to sleep with very little fuss. Ewan the (t@$tting) dream sheep came into his own and stepped up finally after 6 whole months of just being a toy sheep! Seemed to calm him right down, mesmerise him and then soothe him to sleep which is all you could want in a sleep aid.
So that was 1 hour 20 of broken sleep in the bed followed by 6 hours sleep in the cot with 6 wakings in total and 4 night feedings. He then woke at 6.30am and I was able to soothe him back to sleep for another bonus 2 hours in the cot after a little boob snack. Getting better for sure!
Day 2
Went to sleep absolutely fine and into his cot for 3 hours 15 mins! His 1st waking was brief and Ewan stepped up and soothed him almost instantly back to sleep for another hour. 2nd waking, Ewan tried his best but Pads needed some further reassurance so I joined in stroking his head and resting my hand on his tum, but no picking him up unless absolutely necessary as is my new motto, and it took half an hour, but then he went off again for nearly 2 hours.
3rd waking and Ewan solved it instantly but he only slept for 10 minutes before waking a 4th time so this time he was definitely hungry so we had a quick night feed then he fell asleep, so into the cot again for another 2.5 hours and when he awoke he was hungry again and it was almost morning so another feed and then a little nap in bed at 7.30am as a treat.
So that's just under 9 hours sleep with 4 wakings and only 2 night feeds. Definite improvements here.
Day 3
Took a while to get off to sleep and had to result in feeding to sleep (fail) but he did do a tidy 3 hours straight (win). 1st waking, Ewan did not help. Pads just wanted to cry out louder and louder and wouldn't be soothed in the cot so I had to pick him up (fail) and cwtch him whereby he gently fell asleep on me and I lay there for a good 15 mins to make sure he was asleep (never a fail to cwtch my boy) before putting him back in the cot with Ewan on in the background. Fingers crossed.
Sleep lasted another 25 mins before the 2nd waking and he wouldn't settle even when picked up this time so I gave him a night feed. He fell asleep soon after and into the cot again for another 2.5 hours sleep. Lovely.
3rd waking, again I tried Ewan and soothing in the cot to no avail and this time the cries were loud from the start so I had to bring him out for a nappy change (he definitely smelt strongly of wee!) and another night feed to calm him down. He duly fell asleep, so straight back into the cot for 1 hour 45 mins more kip. The 4th waking was almost morning at 6am, but I do not want to encourage this as his up for the day time! He cried out but I let him whimper for a bit and decided to lay still and quiet unless the cries became too much. A couple of whimpering minutes passed with a few loud bursts of crying that died down almost immediately then it went quiet, then he started babbling to himself for a few minutes happily. That's ok I thought, I'll let him lay there and babble on while I get some more shut eye...then came a thunk noise. Then another. And another.
I sat up to see my little bear on his front in the sleepyhead, which is quite an impressive position to get into as there isn't much room in it and it's not a very firm or stable surface, and he was grasping at the bars of the cot and losing his balance each time, thus bopping his head onto the side of the cot. Little man! I was half impressed with him and half 'oh crap', now the fun really begins hey!'. I turned him onto his back again and he let me know that was not cool with some almighty shouting so I brought him back out for his morning feed.
Not the best night in terms of not picking him up to soothe etc...and Ewan seems to have gone back to being pretty darn useless again which is a shame as he did so well the past 2 nights so I had high hopes.
However, we did manage just under 7 hours of sleep on and off with only 4 wakings (and 4 night feeds) and he went back to sleep pretty quickly each time after a feed and in his cot each time so it is still progress.
Day 4
We achieved a sleep nirvana for us - 5 and a half hours straight people! In his cot!!!!!!! And he went to sleep straight away after his feed as he was so tired. We put him to bed later than usual, 8pm, just because we were disorganised and so he was properly knackered and ready for sleep perhaps. Could this have been the reason for such solid sleep? Or was it that he had had a cheeky little feed in the bath so only needed a quick feed before bed then and settled sooner? Or was it because he has gotten used to his crib now after 3 days of 'cot training'? Or was it just a fluke/a one off/because the moon was in the right ascension or something?! If I only knew.
He then woke once for a night feed and straight back to sleep for another 2 hours, then he woke for a 2nd time and Ewan took that shift and lulled him back to sleep within a minute. Boom! He then woke an hour and a quarter later for the day and a big morning feed as a thank you from me for the best sleep we have had in months - seriously. He is waking around 6-6.30am in the mornings now, which seems to be his new 'I'm awake and exploring my cot' time.
This night was a complete success though, 8 hours 45 mins sleep with only 2 wakings and 1 night feed. I couldn't be happier.
Day 5
Started off as an absolute disaster. We put him to bed too late , 8.30pm, and without a bath as it was too late and he had slept for an hour and a half until 6.30pm earlier so just wasn't tired enough perhaps or was overtired?! Don't know. He just wanted to roll, try and roll, do the downward dog, shuffle, grizzle, laugh, feed, not feed, kick, go on his front, then on his back...he basically didn't know what he wanted to do and fought sleep with all his might.
I tried settling him in the cot and Ewan did bugger all except distract him from sleep, none of my usual techniques did any good and it wasn't until 11pm after yet another feed in bed, as I was out of other sleep inducing ideas, that he finally did a super energetic roll that looked like a continuation of all the activity of before, but then he just stopped on his front, face down and completely konked out where he ended up. I gingerly moved him into his cot expecting the worst and he slept for 5 hours 40 minutes!!!!
He woke once for a feed then back in the cot for half an hour of sleep then he woke for the 2nd time and wanted to explore the cot, move about in his sleepyhead and try and grab at Ewan - who did nothing once again! I let him 'play' until he started getting upset and frustrated which was a good 45 minutes or so later and then brought him out for another bed feed, by now it was almost 6am anyway. He fell asleep for another half an hour then before we all had to get up to take Jon to the station for work.
After a rocky start, he did us proud again with 6hrs 40 sleep, 5hrs 40 of that in one solid block and with only 2 wakings and 2 feeds. This is definitely a huge step in the right direction so we will keep this up.
4. Swimming disaster!
One week off and it's all gone to pot. He did an almighty poo-nami on the way to swimming in the car and then fell promptly asleep so I didn't change him until we got to the pool. And it had gone everywhere. All over his vest, baby grow, trousers, yuck. (Thanks broccoli- I blame you!) Luckily I always keep a spare change of clothes in my bag I thought. He screamed the changing room down as I changed him and rather unhelpfully another lady decided that was exactly the time to turn on a hairdryer. He hates hairdryers so this made the crying much worse. It took ages to clean him up and then try and wrestle him into his swim gear so we were already 10 minutes late to class by this point.
Once in the pool, he seemed fine though. Not his usual splashing self but happy enough. For 10 minutes. We did an underwater swim and he did it beautifully as usual, but then he just lost it and nothing I or the teacher could do would soothe him. He also looked a bit shivery so I just took the call to take him out and give him a feed at the side of the pool wrapped snugly in his cosy towel.
Then in the changing room, after he showered happily with me, he giggled away on his mat while I dried him like nothing had ever been wrong. I went in the swim bag to get his change of clothes out and...and...bugger. I had already used the spare set last week and totally forgot to replace it! Idiot!!! My baby was naked but for a nappy with poo stained clothes as his only clothing option. But then I remembered I kept a spare set of clothes in my other regular changing bag which I had put in the car just incase. Sometimes I am (sort of) awesome. So, with a nudey baby on the floor, freezing cold weather outside and the clothes in the car, I had to ask a lovely fellow mum from my class to keep an eye on Pads while I legged it to the car and back in an impressive time I'd say.
Note to self: always replace any used spare clothes in both changing bag and swim bag as soon as you get home! I was lucky this time!
He grizzled again as I dressed him so I took him to the cafe for a feed then he zonked out in the car for over an hour as I took the long, scenic drive home. Guess he was just tired and cranky then which is why swimming did not go well? Also we had fed an hour and 45 mins before swimming when we usually feed just over an hour before. Timing is everything with these babies and I guess this week, I totally got it wrong.
5. Feeding in the bath!
A first for us, and I don't know why we haven't tried this before. Its brilliant. Pads and I have enjoyed many baths together but this week, he realised for the first time that he has basically had his own personal snack bar behind him the whole time and he is now making up for lost time. He discovered that there was milk right by his head after he wriggled about so much in my lap and then ended up turned facing me and he latched on with impressive speed and urgency for a mid bath drink and seemed really thirsty and appreciative. His little body was half floating in the water and half resting on me and it felt like the most natural thing in the world for both of us I reckon.
I had heard it was great for bonding and almost restored babies back to their 'original settings' if you will, as it reminds them of the warmth and safety of being in the womb and can help get breastfeeding back on track. It did feel very right and natural if that makes sense. He has since gone almost straight for the milk after getting in the bath with me twice now so I think this has become his new night time wind down ritual!
6. 6 month lactation celebration!
I would just like to end with a little high five to my boobs for enabling me to breastfeed my boy exclusively for 6 whole months and also a high five to myself and Pads for sticking with it through the ups and downs. It is the hardest thing I have ever done but it's also what I am most proud of persevering with, thanks to a combination of absolute determination and desire to breastfeed from me and my son, and the help and support I received from my husband, mum, friends, breastfeeding groups and of course the lactation legend that is Carol Walton! I am chuffed to bits that we made it this far, as I really only thought I would manage a couple of months, if that at one point, and I really hope to be able to continue breastfeeding for as long as my boy needs it.
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