Milestones and Resources

Our baby daughter is 5 and 1/2 months old. Where has time gone?  She now sits unassisted and is starting to learn the pincer grasp (I know!).

One thing we still struggle with is sleep.  Every time she turns a month older, her sleep patterns get all out of sync.  It happened at 3 months and at 4 months.  It seems to be a combination of factors, none of which seems to be hunger or growth spurts.  From teething to overstimulation due to developmental growth, she knows and experiences them all.  I found a great online resource about the secrets of babies behavior ( highly recommended) and this has somewhat helped mitigate my own fears and how I deal with these struggles. 

One thing I really enjoy is the fact that she now likes activities more and more.  Also her attention spam seems to be getting larger.  Now that she can sit for longer stretches without being propped or assisted, she has become a little more independent.  And this frees me from having to be next to her all the time.

As far as teeth go, we still haven't seen the elusive pearly whites yet.  I can't wait to see those suckers and finally start solids.  We have postponed solids until she's 6 months old, due to the initial allergic reaction she had to rice cereal a month ago. 

Teething 101

Emilu has been teething for the past three weeks.  She does many things to comfort herself.  She rubs her mouth against the bed or my shoulders.  She sucks at every toy including her fists.  She scratches herself with her tongue (so funny).  And now she sucks her thumbs! I have no idea how long this process lasts, but this condition has affected the sleep patterns in this household.  Only recently did she start to sleep better (thank God).

When her sleeping is affected the feedings are impacted as well.  That's because if she doesn't nap when she's tired, the tiredness builds up and she ends up dozing off during her feeding, which she doesn't finish and gets completed half way through the next feeding.  I end up pushing forward her next feeding and this habit makes her miss one or (worse) sometimes two day feedings, which leaves her hungry at night when she's supposed to be asleep.

Ahhh it's exhausting. When are teeth due to come out? At her 4 months appointment the doctor felt her gums and predicted in a month.  We'll see.