The F word
… and we’re back! Sorry for that little delay in bloggy-bloggage. For my American friends, this past weekend was “Canadian Thanksgiving” — and yes, I actually think of it as “Canadian Thanksgiving,” because it is such an understated holiday compared to regular “American Thanksgiving.” I have spent most of my life wishing I was American, and that our holidays were grand affairs with Macy’s parades and Black Friday and all other wondrous things. Anyway …
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Last time we caught up, I was smack in the middle of The Great Solid Food Debate. Is he old enough? Is he ready? Am I ready? And omigod, the pressure!
So, we saw the doctor on Wednesday, at Baby Boy’s four-month check-up/vaccinations (Sidenote: Holy crap, he’s four months old! Mah baybee! He’s so biggggg!). The doctor confirmed that Baby Boy is doing wonderfully well, and (to quote him directly) is “growing like a bad weed.” Um, thanks, Doc?
He measured 63.5 cm long (50th percentile), and weighed 17 pounds, 2 ounces (90th percentile!). I was SO happy to hear those figures, and honestly it feels like a total pat-on-the-back for a breastfeeding mama. He’s deliciously big and healthy because of MEEEEE, ahahaha!
And then the doctor asked the $10,000 question …
“So, is he sleeping through the night?”
No, I did not faint, burst out laughing, or punch him in the face.
I sort of did a snorty, “HA! Um, noooo, he is not. He nurses about four times throughout the night, and I have to go in there three or four more times to sort him out when he rolls over and/or gets tangled in the crib railing …”
And then …
“Wait a second — should he be sleeping through the night? Is this not normal?” Oh God, I remember thinking. What if there is a milestone that my baby is NOT MEETING? But that can’t be! He’s perfect! Aughhh.
DOCTOR: “There’s no ‘normal,’ with babies. Yes, many of them are sleeping through the night at this point, though. Is he really hungry when you’re feeding him at night?”
ME: “Yes. I’m … I’m considering trying rice cereal?”
DOCTOR: “Oh, definitely. At bedtime for sure.”
ME: “I know the experts say to wait until six months, though …”
DOCTOR (laughing): “This kid is bigger than a six-month-old. Cereal won’t hurt him a bit.”
ME: “Hmm … “
DOCTOR: “You really should give him some formula, though.”
ME: “Formula???”
DOCTOR: “Yes, at bedtime. It will keep him full longer, so you can get more sleep.”
Um, whatever happened to healthcare professionals being all obsessive about breastfeeding? I am pretty sure that, while we were in the hospital, I would have had to be bleeding from my eyes to procure a bottle of formula from those nurses. And this guy — this doctor — is suggesting it? WTF?
I was dumbfounded. I knew I’d had my concerns about rice cereal, but that was at least going to be MOSTLY BREASTMILK. I’d planned on using a teensy tiny little nip of cereal mixed with a whole lotta milk. Formula was an entirely new ballgame.
I don’t have anything against formula, but if I was going to give it to my baby, I would have done it when my nipples were cracked and bleeding on Day Two. Or when I was sobbing into my rice from exhaustion on Day Three. Or those nights in the first few weeks, when I was so tired I would have paid a lot money for someone — anyone! — else to feed the baby. If I didn’t give it to him then, I certainly don’t feel like I want to give it to him now.
ME: “You know what? Cereal is looking better and better …”
Our baby in review: His Fourth Month
Vital stats: On his four-month birthday, he weighed 17 pounds, 2 oz. (90th percentile!) and measured 63.5 cm long (50th percentile).
Milestones: Sooo many this month! His focus improved so much, and he began snapping his head around to look at specific things and people. He learned to blow raspberries and stick out his tongue. He learned to roll over onto his stomach (and learned to like sleeping there!). He learned to sit up on his own for a few seconds at a time. He started using his Jolly Jumper and an Exersaucer. He ate breastmilk off a spoon to practice “eating.” And he was baptized!
What he’s been eating: Still all breast milk, all the time. But his fifth month may be the month where we introduce cereal — the jury is still out.
Pumping/bottle-feeding: He didn’t have many bottles this month, but I did pump quite a bit, in order to build up a frozen supply of little one-ounce bags (for when we do introduce cereal, for mixing).
How we’ve been sleeping: For his entire fourth month, he was up about every two hours all night. See this post for the whole sordid tale (and know that it’s improving a lot in his fifth month!).
Diapering: Still using the BumGenius one-size all-in-ones and the BumGenius one-size pocket diapers, and loving them! One of Darling Husband’s colleagues remembered that I’d been planning to use cloth, and he asked him a few weeks ago if I was still actually doing it. “Oh yes,” Darling Husband told him. “She’s very stubborn. I knew she’d stick with them.” Haha, very true!
Things that surprised me: All of the things he’s doing! He started doing so many new things during his fourth month. I joked to people that he’s like a toddler, because he’s so alert and smiley and INTO everything.
Things that have made me melt: When he rests his head against my shoulder or my chest and closes his eyes. When he laughs when I tickle him (especially under his arms). When he grins when I come into the room. When I kiss his silky-smooth little tummy when I’m changing him, and he squeals. When he clings to me like a little koala when I go to lay him in his crib. He is my world.
To eat or not to eat
Baby Boy was baptized over the weekend, and one of his gifts was the very cool SpaceSaver highchair from Fisher Price.
I really wanted this particular one, because several of my mom-friends have it (and swear by it), and our kitchen is NOT big enough for a monstrous regular highchair. This one straps to any old kitchen chair, so your tot can be part of the family at dinnertime, and it even converts to a booster seat for when they’re older. Perfect.
I was so excited to get it that I strapped Baby Boy in the very next morning while I ate my breakfast. He looked so freaking cute in it! I took a bunch of photos, and then I grabbed two baby spoons and a small bowl and threw them on the tray. More photos! Ahh, the cuteness.
And then? The poor kid tried to eat with the (empty) spoons, and tried to pour (invisible) contents from the bowl into his mouth.
Um … why do you know how to eat? And also, sorry for teasing you?
Then he started beating his little fists on the tray, as if to say, “FOOD PLEASE! NOW!” I felt even worse. Darling Husband (and EVERY family member we have, literally, EVERY ONE) wants to start him on rice cereal. Like, yesterday. I go back and forth on the issue.
Baby Boy is turning four months today (October 6), and we are seeing the doctor this morning for his check-up and vaccines. I knowww the doctor is going to say it’s fine to start him on cereal. But the breastfeeding! The advice! They all say nothing but breastmilk until six months! Gahhhhh, I just don’t know.
When I saw him sitting in his highchair, trying to feed himself air, I felt such a longing to give him cereal. He seemed to want it! So I grabbed a bottle of expressed breastmilk from the fridge, and poured some onto a spoon, and aimed it at his mouth. He opened up obediently and sucked it off the spoon. I was feeding him! … sort of? How fun!
He ended up “eating” an once or so, off the plastic spoon. Then I poured a little into the bowl and let him try to “drink” it from there. I should probably invest in a sippy-cup or something? I’m not sure. The kid cannot hold a bottle, because he hardly ever gets them. But maybe he would drink from a handled cup?
By the end of his first — er — “meal” (a.k.a. drink disguised as food), Baby Boy’s onesie was soaked in milk, and I had a ton of cute photos and video footage. Maybe I can keep doing this for the next two months? … Maybe? … Ugh, I don’t know …
Attack of the STUFF
Before we had Baby Boy, I thought I would be a minimalist when it came to baby stuff. Especially the “big” baby stuff.
I was very aware of the size of our condo (small), and I did NOT want it to be overrun with brightly-coloured (read: garish) baby gyms and Jumperoos and other plastic nightmares. I was stupid and naive and thought babies couldn’t possibly need all of that stuff.
But you know what? Once you have a baby, you realize that you were WRONG.
Well, you were right about a few things — yes, it is ugly. And the colours are way too bright (and garish). Yes, it makes the rooms feel crowded sometimes. But you resign yourself to it, because you know what? STUFF HELPS!
Stuff is what keeps your baby entertained so you can desperately toast a bagel and stuff it into your exhausted jaws. Stuff is what keeps your baby sitting somewhere safe so you can fold the mountain of clean laundry … or PEE! Stuff is what makes your baby smile and play at 6 a.m. when you are legally comatose sitting next to them. Stuff saves lives!
Which is why we now have …
- One Exersaucer in our living room
- One Exersaucer in our dining room
- One bouncy chair in our bedroom
- One bouncy chair in the main bathroom
- One Jolly Jumper in the nursery doorway
- One Playard in the living room
- One Bumbo chair in the living room
- One highchair in the kitchen
12 steps to sleep deprivation
He’s still rolling …
Still rolling just the one direction …
Zzzzzzzz …
Luckily, Baby Boy has decided that he actually LIKES to sleep on his stomach. Sort of. On his own terms, of course, which are …
Baby Boy’s Guide to Sleep
- Allow your mommy to lie you on your back
- Close your eyes and look sleepy
- Wait until she walks out of the room and gets into her bed
- Flip yourself over to your stomach (bonus points if you spit up in the process)
- Wail until she comes in to rescue you
- Cry uncontrollably until she strokes your hair and offers you the soother from one side, so that your head is coaxed down to the mattress and rest on one cheek
- Repeat step #6 a few times
- Settle down and sleep comfortably on your stomach, with your head turned to one side
- Sleep for an hour or two
- Wake your mommy up with more crying
- Make her carry you to the glider and nurse you
- Repeat steps #1-12 as necessary until the morning
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Heather's Handmade Life 