This month felt like that we really celebrated the arrival of Aiden in our lives with a beautiful afternoon garden party following his christening last weekend.   It really was a special day and it was wonderful to see the love for our favourite little man from our family and friends.  He’s definitely keeping me on my toes now that he’s crawling and despite cancelling my gym membership a while back because I didn’t have time to go anymore, chasing Aiden around and keeping him out of trouble is definitely better than any gym workout I’ve ever done! 

Sleeping 

Overall we’re still doing really well in this department and even though Aiden still wakes up for his night feeds there have been several occasions this month where he has gone down to sleep at 7.30 pm and not woken up until 2 am, missing his usual 10 pm feed.  Whether he will ever sleep through the entire night anytime soon is a complete mystery, but as it stands I really can’t complain, we’re very lucky that he’s always been a good night sleeper. 

Now that I’m much better at recognising Aiden’s sleepy cues such as touching his ear, rubbing his eyes, being a total grump and whiny getting him to nap during the day has become a little easier as the guesswork has been taken out it.  Once I see these cues I will quite happily or in frustration depending on how well it’s going, spend however long it takes for him to fall asleep.  Sometimes this can be as quick as holding him in my arms or trying a whole list of different things until the little tinker drifts off.  It’s hard work, but it’s worth it as I know I will end up with my happy baby again as a result.  He’s consistently napping for a lot longer too, regularly taking a 2-hour nap mid morning and another 30-minute nap late in the afternoon.  I’m feeling much more productive these days! 

Weaning and Breastfeeding

I thought that it was never going to happen, but my little man has started to drop a feed and has found an easy feeding routine that works in and around his 3 meals a day, which looks like this:

• 4-5 am milk feed
• 7-8 am breakfast
• 11.30-12 am milk feed
• 1.30 pm lunch
• 3.30-4 pm milk feed
• 6 pm dinner
• 7.30 pm milk feed

Of course, this is all based on approximations and some days he feeds more than others, mainly for comfort not due to hunger, but this is the general routine that he tends to follow.  We’ve always  been very much baby-led and just follow Aiden’s lead, which has worked great so far.  He certainly knows what he wants and how to go about getting it and has slowly settled into this routine that he seems to enjoy. 

Aiden absolutely loves his food, just like his mama! I really enjoy watching him eat and explore different tastes and textures.  He’s really not a fussy eater and there is nothing that he won’t try at least once. Again we’re still doing an adapted version of baby-led weaning, which purists will probably disagree with, but mixing in a little spoon-feeding with BLW really hasn’t hindered his development or his appetite for that matter. 

Body

I think that I’ve been pretty open on the blog about how run down pregnancy left my body and how little time I’m able to spend on myself these days.  I think my body is used to feeling tired all the time now, so much so that most of the time I don’t even notice it anymore, it’s my norm.  However this month I think I’ve turned a bit of a corner and even though I’m generally happy with how pregnancy and has left my body, the rough around the edges feeling was beginning to get to me.  We’ve had a couple of social events over the past few weeks that has meant that I’ve had the chance to get out my pretty dresses and get dressed up, which has been really nice.  I’m definitely making more of an effort to take care of myself and showing myself some acts of self-love that I keep going on about and it’s made such a massive difference to the way I’m feeling about myself.  

Mind

Not much has changed here if I’m honest.  There have been some stressful moments where I’ve got overworked trying to juggle everything all at once, including organising Aiden’s christening.  Other than that slight hiccup I feel mentally sound with everything and settled in my role as a mum now.  I’ve definitely come a long way from that vulnerable newbie mum to now and most days I generally feel like I’ve got this.  

Aiden’s Milestones

Last month AJ started to crawl forwards after a few weeks of backward motion, since then he’s come on in leaps and bounds and is such a confident crawler.  He never went through the ‘army crawl’ phase but straight to crawling ‘on all fours’ and now has picked up a lot of speed that he can be hard to keep up with – turn your back for one second and he’s already started for the stairs or in the next room.  Keeping a watchful eye on him really does keep me busy as everything is interesting to him.  Currently, USB cables are his favourite and he finds the small dark space under my desk very exciting.

It’s been interesting to watch his communication skills develop some more and he’s a very chatty baby and now knows how to tell us if he wants more food and has started to make different sounds with his voice.  I’m reading and talking to him lots so he picks up even more sounds, which I’m hoping will help to develop his vocabulary in the future.  He now has 8 pearly white teeth that we clean (or try to as he chews on the toothbrush!) and can also pull himself upright and move slowly around furniture whilst using it as a support.  My mum bought him some problem-solving toys and he loves playing with his wooden rainbow stacking hoops that he constantly pours all over the floor and clapping is still his favourite thing ever. 

Aiden is at such a fun cheeky age at the minute and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the next few months bring. 

Do you cope with long periods of tiredness well?  Do you just go into autopilot and not even notice the tiredness?

What was your baby getting up to at this age?