Who Needs Sleep, Well You're Never Gonna Get It

Phew. It's been a rough week. Let's start with the good stuff. Nate had his four month doctor's appointment yesterday and it went great. He is 18 lbs. 4 ozs. and 26 1/4 inches long. That's the 97th percentile for weight and the 90th for height. He's a big 'un! I started worrying about switching out the infant seat for the convertible carseat this weekend, but then was reminded that the height limit is 29 inches, not 26. Good thing. This kid can't sit up in a grocery cart yet.

I recently read that at 3-4 months of age, they shouldn't need to eat more than once per night. Well, Nate's still eating twice usually, and three times on a bad night. So we decided to stretch out the night feedings until he was down to just one. I knew he didn't need to eat so much, since he's started eating a lot less during the day (not good). Well, the doctor confirmed what I had already suspected. He doesn't need to eat during the night at all. Look how much he weighs! So anyway, we're going to cut out night feedings all together. And then we're going to let him cry it out and figure out how to self soothe, so we're not always rocking him to sleep, much as I've come to enjoy that. There's nothing better than feeling your baby's soft cheek against your own while he snores like a little angel. But he needs to learn to sleep on his own. And stay asleep on his own. That last part especially.

The doctor also said we could start Nate on solids, starting with rice cereal. Yay! I've really been looking forward to that. I've got spoons and bibs and cereal and everything all ready to go.

We were going to start last night, but Nate was miserable after his shots. Not really a great frame of mind for starting solid food for the first time. He's still got a bit of a fever, but we're trying to keep it down with Tylenol. Unfortunately, he also seems to have developed his first cold last night. He's got snot like y'all wouldn't believe. His face was covered in it this morning. It was in his eyebrows. How did that happen? Poor kid. I think we'll be totally cutting out the night feedings within the next day or two. The crying it out will wait until he's not sick.

You guys are probably wondering how we did with my de-swaddle project. Now it seems so long ago that we even swaddled him. He goes down with no problems unswaddled now. See?


He's even starting to really "get" his thumb, so he'll really be able to self soothe soon. He's even got the finger hooked on his nose occasionally. Too cute. But I'm not looking forward to having to break him of the habit down the road.

Nate's looking like a champ on his developmental milestones. He's really propping himself up at tummy time and can hold his head up pretty well. We're working on sitting up. He's almost figured out how to tripod, but not quite. He babbles and coos still like nobody's business. The other day, he said something that sounded suspiciously like "hi," and yesterday, I swear I heard a "yo." He likes to put weight on his legs when you stand him up. He's really gotten into the jumperoo. See?

The doc was happy when I told her about all this stuff we do with him, because it's keeping him off that flat spot. I want to say his head is finally starting to look rounder, but I could just be seeing what I want to. I guess only time will tell.