5 month baby update

I honestly can't believe Squidge is now 5 months old! What's more, I'll be back in work in the next 4 months, and that's something I'm finding it hard to come to terms with.  If we could afford it, I wouldn't go back, not that I don't enjoy my job, I just want to be here all the time for the little man.

We've had a good month, but at times it's been really hard.  All in all every day he brings me pure joy, whether it's in a high-pitched squeal, or seeing him bouncing in his Jumperoo and loving it, or having a nap on me and seeing his serenely calm face.

CLOTHING

He's still in 3-6 months clothes and think he will be for a few more weeks.  I am surprised just how much these clothes differ in sizes in different stores though - I know they do for adults, but hadn't thought about them doing that with baby clothes too.  He's got some 3-6 which seem a bit small for him, and loads which are still really big on him.  I'm about to get him some of the next size up just so they're ready and waiting, but I think we'll be a little while off putting him in them, maybe another month?

TEETHING

This seems to have eased off, although in the last week we have noticed how now everything he holds goes into his mouth, and I mean everything!  He's drooling lots too.  So far I haven't been reaching for the Ashton & Parsons or Nelsons, although one night we did need to give him some Calpol as he was crying a lot when we put him into bed, and they were horrible pain cries - it really helped to soothe and settle him, thank goodness!  The evening this picture was taken, Squidge was pulling Chris' finger into his mouth and chomping down on it really hard - so hard Chris could feel a bottom tooth just behind the gum!

SLEEP

I have to say, he's been a little trooper.  He's still pretty much sleeping through the night, just waking up and crying a few times for his dummy.  I run in and pop that in, and he goes back to sleep - this is typically between 2-5am.  He has been having some trouble getting to sleep when we put him down at night though - some nights we've been up there for 2-3 hours while he's having meltdown after meltdown, meaning our evening isn't starting until 10pm, an hour or two later and we're heading to bed, far too late.  I've no idea how to fix this, but we're open to trying anything! (other than controlled crying, we've read in several places not to do this before 6 months) - so any suggestions?

Oh and his day naps - these have changed and become tougher.  He no longer sleeps well in the day - on a really good day, he may nap for an hour at a time, but typically he'll get 20-30 mins 2-3 times a day, leaving him exhausted by the evening, and resulting in him pretty much sleeping through his last feed.  However, if he naps between his penultimate and last feed, he doesn't tend to sleep very well at night, all a bit of a mare at the moment.  Since he was born, he's had his day naps on the sofa in his poddle pod, but now he can roll over, and he's getting too big for it, I'm starting to give him naps in his cot, only problem is I'm lucky if he gets 10 mins in there... again, any suggestions?

FEEDING & WEANING

Such a sad photo :( It was taken after a 45 minute long meltdown (by him), hence the red crying eyes. Anyway, over the last few weeks, pretty much since the last update, he's become really unsatisfied with his bottles and get's bored while he's drinking them, typically leaving more than I'm happy with each feed.  Once he hit 17 weeks, we decided to very slowly start the weaning process, only giving him baby rice no more than once a day (and not every day).  Over the last week it's really come together and he's showing all the signs of being properly ready - he's interested in what we're eating, able to hold things and take things off us.  During the feeds he's taking the baby rice from the spoon really well, he's gulping it down and really enjoying it.  I'm taking him to the health visitor tomorrow and going to ask them about progressing weaning (introducing new foods and flavours) early.

We're going to be doing a mixture of baby led weaning and normal weaning - I'm happy to let him explore foods, but I'll be feeding him.  He'll be having baby porridge, puree's and things that I'll feed him, but I'll also give him cooked sticks of carrot and things like that - things that are mushy and safe, but not for a little while yet.

PROGRESS

The last update I'd mentioned about how he'd rolled over a couple of times, which seemed accidental, well he's doing it all the time now ;)  He hasn't rolled onto his front yet, but he can roll onto his side really well, and has also stayed there. - On Saturday he actually rolled over for the first time, the pic above was taken seconds after he did it :) A very proud mummy moment :)

He's really enjoying slamming his feet down too, something he's doing with more energy than he used to.  His cooing comes and go's, he has quiet days and loud days, same as us grown ups I guess.

Standing - he cannot get enough of this - if he's grouchy, this is usually what he wants :)  We also bought him a Jumperoo last week - he went on a play date and went in one then for the first time and LOVED it, so we found one on Gumtree for £25 (bargain!) and I might say it's the best £25 we've spent - I'll be doing a full review of it soon :)

He's also just learned how to blow raspberries and is doing it all the time, it's super cute :)

PHYSIO

We've been to see the physio due to his preference to look to the right.  They said that he does have a shorter neck muscle on the left, so we have to encourage him to look to the left as much as possible, and carry him a little differently to stretch the muscle.  They think this is what has caused his big flat spot on his head and weren't worried about it.  This angle on the picture doesn't make his flat spot look too bad, but it's a lot worse than that.

It's crazy to think that my next update is the big 6 month update!  Time is going so fast, it feels like he's changing by the day.

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