You are 5 months old, which is so close to 6 months which is almost a year! How does this happen?! You've been a busy girl over the last several weeks. You celebrated your first International Family Feast party at school, Friendsgiving at home, and three Thanksgivings (Gigi's house, Papaw's house and Grammy & PopPop's house). This started a two week sleep regression for you. It was pretty awful... Your sleep routine got thrown off which resulted in you getting overly tired and you wouldn't sleep at all. No naps, not night time sleep. Instead you screamed and cried every time we tried to get you to sleep. You were so upset. You even lost your voice! But, once we got you back to your routine you starting sleeping better. You now like to sleep on your belly, which scared me at first. We try to get you in your bed between 7-8 pm to sleep. For a few weeks you would lay down awake and slowly put yourself to sleep. Now your back to needing rocked/held to sleep, but at least you aren't screaming and crying like before. You have been taking really good afternoon naps at school (2-3 hours) but still won't do that at home. I need to learn their tricks!
You have a tooth trying to come through on the bottom right. You are constantly chewing and drooling. We're anxious for it to finally pop through.
At your 4 month check up (which was a week before you turned 5 months) you only weighed 12 pounds 11 ounces. We expected you to weight more than that. The doctor said you should be drinking at least 6 oz at every feeding. Since you are breastfed it is hard to know. Also, you like to nurse for a really long time (45 minutes, sometimes an hour) and at school that is impossible for me to do. So we began supplementing you with formula until you start solids. So now you get a 2oz bottle of formula or breast milk and then I come in a nurse you for 20-30 minutes. It is working out well. We have also been giving you 4oz of formula at night and then I nurse you until you are completely full or asleep. This has resulted in you sleeping longer, which is great for everyone! After a week of doing this we were back in the doctor (pink eye false alarm) and your weight was up to 13 pounds 1 ounce. I still don't know how I feel about giving you formula, breastfeeding has so many emotions tied into it, but in the end I want you to be healthy and gain weight so I will do whatever it takes. At that appointment you were also measured and are 26 inches long. You are now in between sizes. Some 3-6 month clothing fits but you are also in 6 month or 6-9 month sizes.
You continue to roll to your tummy, although you normally don't like it. You still haven't figured out how to roll to your back. You have started arching your back and using your legs to scoot backwards. You do it a lot when you're excited. You can also push yourself up when on your tummy.
You are very interested in food. You stop and watch us eat every time. We want to introduce solids using Baby Led Weaning so we're waiting until you are 6 months old and/or can sit up unassisted and lose your tongue thrust reflex. As soon as that happens, avocado will be served up! I am very excited for this!
You have started to be unsure about strangers. When you see me, your dad, and your teachers you light up and smile big. When strangers or people you don't see every day approach you, you look a little hesitant. You also pout or cry sometimes!
You are very ticklish and love when your daddy tickles you or rubs his head on your belly. You give big giggles that we absolutely adore. You have a silly personality.
We're in the middle of Christmas fun and we're looking forward to your very first Christmas!
Labels: Charlotte, monthly update
