Hellobee

Charlie turned 5 months old today!  I think I can safely say that Charlie has changed the most from month 4 to month 5.  The past month has been such a busy blur, I’ve hardly taken any pictures of him.  Here’s an overview!

I’d wanted a Bumbo for a long time because Charlie loves sitting up. I put off buying one because I’m trying not to overbuy baby things since they have such a short life span and take up so much space. But a mom in my local parenting listserv was selling her barely used Bumbo, so I picked it up recently. Charlie LOVES this thing! I only wish I had purchased one when he was 3 months old!  According to the reviews, the Prince Lionheart bebePod is better for babies with thicker legs, but it may be too big for thinner/younger babies. The Bumbo is a bit snug on Charlie’s chunky legs, but I got a steal on it and he’ll probably only use it for 2 months or so until he’s sitting up.

Haha I love this picture. It was the first one I took of him in the Bumbo. I don’t remember him frowning though — it must just have been a momentary expression because he was giggling up a storm in this sucker.

Height – 26 3/4 inches – 90%
Head Circumference: 16.7 inches – 50%
Weight – 20 Weeks – 17 lbs 14 oz – 90%
16 Weeks – 16 lbs 10 oz
12 Weeks – 14 lbs 13 oz
8 Weeks – 13 lbs 3 oz
4 weeks – 10lbs 10oz
Birth – 8lbs 6oz

His height and weight have continued to be on the same 90th percentile track, but his head has grown from the 25th percentile to the 50th.

Happiness is being able to sit up by yourself. That’s a nice round noggin he has.

Our pediatrician said that we were gonna have to let Charlie cry to solve his sleeping problems. If he isn’t sleeping through the night at this point, it’s only going to get worse. He said Charlie was ready to cry at 2 1/2 – 3 months!  I think all my friends whose babies slept through the night on their own did so before 3 months. It looked like Charlie might do it — around two months he got up to an 8 hour stretch. But then it kept decreasing… 7 hours, 6 hours, 5 hours, 4 hours coupled with increasingly frequent night waking. It was manageable though because he was at least taking decent day time naps then. These days he can still do a good first stretch most nights, but from 1:00am on he can be up most of the night, and his day time naps are no party.

Big baby feet!

Ferber says babies are ready to be sleep trained sometime between 4-6 months. Other books I’ve read say 5 months and 15 pounds and yet others say 14 pounds — that’s the point at which a baby supposedly has enough weight to sleep through the night. I’ve talked to a couple of parents who tried to sleep train at 3 or 4 months and failed, and then succeeded when they tried a month or two later. I also know a lot of parents who sleep trained at 3 months with great success. I guess there is no “right” time because every baby is different.

Month 4 was a huge month because we finally sleep trained.  I think it was the perfect time for Charlie because his main method of self soothing is to chomp on his sleeves and fists, and he’s much better at controlling his arms and hands at 4 1/2 months than he was at 3 months. I also tried many other things before deciding to sleep train, so I was as comfortable with the decision as I could be. Maybe Charlie was ready at three months, and maybe I was the one who wasn’t ready until he was 4 1/2 months.  Sleep training has been a great success, and now everyone in the Bee family is happier and better rested!

I bought Charlie this Winkel toy when he was 3 months old, and he instantly loved it. He’s been really good at grabbing toys and holding onto them for awhile, but even 2 month old babies have no problem holding onto the Winkel. A very highly recommended first toy for your baby!

Body Update

When I was pregnant, my hair was so healthy, grew so fast and never fell out. After giving birth I was prepared for it to fall out in clumps because that’s usually what happens post pregnancy. But it didn’t happen and I thought perhaps I was one of the lucky ones! Until a couple weeks ago when it started falling out like crazy. It coincided with Charlie’s major sleep problems because I was stressed out!

Here are some of Charlie’s recent milestones!

– Charlie can now suck on his toes!
– At 4 months/17 Weeks Charlie started rolling over from his stomach to his back.
– At 4 1/2 months/19 weeks Charlie started rolling over from his back to his stomach, and became a nonstop rolling machine.
– Once Charlie was rolling over, he started doing 360’s in his crib and now sleeps in every corner and position possible (including his tummy, which freaks me out).
– Charlie knows about object permanence.  If he’s playing with a toy and you take it away, he’ll fuss if he wants it back.  When he was younger, it was out of sight out of mind.
– I can hand Charlie his bottle and he’ll grab it with both hands and stick it in his mouth.
– Charlie is so good with his hands.  I remember when he couldn’t even put his fingers in his mouth!  He’ll grab any toy we put in front of his face and promptly put it in his mouth.
– Charlie can lift his head and chest up high by doing a mini push-up.  It gives him a better vantage point of the world than lying flat on his back.
– We sleep trained Charlie at 4 1/2 months and now he sleeps 11-12 hours a night, dropped his 2 middle of the night feedings, no longer needs the bottle to fall asleep, is no longer swaddled, takes a 2 hour+ morning nap, and puts himself to sleep when we put him in his crib awake at night and for his naps.
– Charlie has developed stranger anxiety.  Whereas he used to love everyone, he’s cried the past couple of times that a stranger has held him.  This is normal at this age, and is supposed to go away in a couple months.
– Charlie has also become a lot clingier with me and sometimes fusses when I put him down, or holds his arms open wanting me to pick him up.
– Charlie has become such a busybody.  He constantly tracks me and Mr. Bee around the room with his eyes, turns his head towards any voices or sounds, and when I’m holding him with one arm, he has swivel his head around to watch whatever I’m doing with my free arm.
– For the first time, Charlie lost weight in his weekly weigh in.  He dropped two middle of the night bottles so he had to move those ounces to the daytime, but it’s taking a little time for him to be able to increase his intake at each feeding.  He’s never been a piggy and eats as much now as he did when he was a month old.  Though he eats less than babies that are a lot smaller than him, he still seems to grow at a faster pace.  He’s definitely leaner because pants fit his previously chubbier belly better now.

Chomp.

I now call Charlie “Mr. Particular” because he knows what and who he likes and doesn’t like.   He really is becoming his own little person.  6 Months is going to be a period of big transition for Charlie.  He’ll start solids, hopefully consolidate his 3-4 naps into 2-3 longer naps, and sit up.  Now I need to move onto my next obsession and start researching gadgets, cookbooks, and feeding supplies!