This month has been one of continued poop follow ups but many changes in sleeping, feeding and playing as Leila grows. We have noticed more 'changes' this month, as we are getting back in to a very different routine compared to before Christmas when she was two months.
Likes
Leila likes grabbing with both hands. She can grab the toys that dangle above her on the playmat, toys that are placed to the palm of her hand and she likes to grab her bottle too when we are feeding her.
She also likes putting things in her mouth, so any grabbing is usually to put in her mouth! Toys need to be washed a lot more now as they are otherwise covered in drool, but her real favourite thing to put in her mouth is her fingers. She loves dragging these across her gums at the front and biting down towards the back too.
Leila loves playing "raaagh" with Fang. Whenever we place him on her belly she pulls her legs up (to force him towards her face), then grabs him and pulls his nose into her mouth. All accompanied by a "raaagh!"
She is getting good at pushing herself up when on her tummy and can do this on her elbows as long as she is not tired. She also is getting better at sitting up when being held and standing whilst being supported.
Leila is 'talking' a lot more now and making lots of different sounds - although she did go through a quieter phase of a few weeks which we think coincided with the second half of her Lacteol Fort course.
In the last week of the month Leila has worked out how to blow raspberries.
Dislikes
Leila dislikes "off milk" (as anyone would!) We have discovered that Alice's frozen milk is sometimes off, so we have been trying different methods of keeping it for longer.
She also does not like her medicine which we are still having to give her. She has had a second course of Lacteol Fort this month and has been taking iron drops for her anaemia.
We dislike her parasol. We had a huge fuss finding one to fit our buggy and ordering one in time for the P's to bring over at Christmas but have found that it is actually useless! By the time you get it set up and at the right angle you have changed direction (as you tend to do- as not many walks are in a straight line!) and so need to readjust it. Waste of time, so we are searching around for other shade options.
Leila has a tendency to suddenly realise she is hungry or tired and this leads to crying and tears, so we are trying to anticipate these two things a bit better. We kept a chart for a week or so of her 'timings' and have seen that she can nap after 90 mins, but will definitely need a nap after 2 hours. Therefore if we put her in the sling after 90 mins and start to walk, then she will fall asleep herself, but if we wait until it has been 2 hours since her nap then we have to work a lot harder to get her to sleep.
Leila does not like napping for longer than 30mins. This seems to be her default setting. She also doesn't like not having enough naps during the day. This is only a problem now that we have a 'routine' which gives her a set bedtime. If Leila hasn't napped enough during the day then she will get tired and grouchy from 4.30pm and we then are in a pickle - do we let her have a late nap, or try to keep her awake till her 5.30 bottle?
Twice this month she has been bad at napping for Gina when I am at work. She didn't have any problems napping for a good hour with her when I was working a half day, but now I am doing a full day she sometimes decides that she doesn't want to nap for longer than 10 minutes at a time. This is really hard for Gina to deal with during the day as well as being really hard for us when we get home as an overly tired Leila is not fun!
Sleeping
Sleeping has been a focus for this month really with some successes and some problems (as mentioned about in her 'dislikes'!) Leila's bedtime routine working very well most nights and she is in bed by 7pm so we love our evenings together. She tends to sleep through till 3am well and will go down again after a feed. After this though she tens to wake around 5am and then needs nuzzling to be kept asleep.
Naps in the day are hard work and she needs to be in sling or nuzzling. We have been able to get her to nap in the cot after feeding to sleep sometimes and this is useful for getting a few jobs done around the place (like writing this blog!)
Feeding
Leila has started to get distracted when feeding - especially at Baby Group - and so some feeds are spread out as she fusses. In the evening we sometimes have to have the bedroom totally dark to do final feed for her.
She has been doing OK with bottle, but still doesn't like her medicine which means she refuses to feed much before her bath. Sometimes she struggles with bottle when overly tired, and so has to be fed by me instead.
We are trying to ween her off the Infacol now and so are gradually cutting down the number of times a day we give it to her. Hopefully she will be off it within a month as she is generally farting and burping herself.
New this month
Leila is sleeping in her cot at night rather than the moses basket, and she is sleeping in her cot for some naps during the day.
Leila is also happy in the buggy for walks, and even some sleeping, but we don't do this very often as a sling still feels easier for getting around.
Likes
Leila likes grabbing with both hands. She can grab the toys that dangle above her on the playmat, toys that are placed to the palm of her hand and she likes to grab her bottle too when we are feeding her.
She also likes putting things in her mouth, so any grabbing is usually to put in her mouth! Toys need to be washed a lot more now as they are otherwise covered in drool, but her real favourite thing to put in her mouth is her fingers. She loves dragging these across her gums at the front and biting down towards the back too.
Leila loves playing "raaagh" with Fang. Whenever we place him on her belly she pulls her legs up (to force him towards her face), then grabs him and pulls his nose into her mouth. All accompanied by a "raaagh!"
She is getting good at pushing herself up when on her tummy and can do this on her elbows as long as she is not tired. She also is getting better at sitting up when being held and standing whilst being supported.
Leila is 'talking' a lot more now and making lots of different sounds - although she did go through a quieter phase of a few weeks which we think coincided with the second half of her Lacteol Fort course.
In the last week of the month Leila has worked out how to blow raspberries.
Dislikes
Leila dislikes "off milk" (as anyone would!) We have discovered that Alice's frozen milk is sometimes off, so we have been trying different methods of keeping it for longer.
She also does not like her medicine which we are still having to give her. She has had a second course of Lacteol Fort this month and has been taking iron drops for her anaemia.
We dislike her parasol. We had a huge fuss finding one to fit our buggy and ordering one in time for the P's to bring over at Christmas but have found that it is actually useless! By the time you get it set up and at the right angle you have changed direction (as you tend to do- as not many walks are in a straight line!) and so need to readjust it. Waste of time, so we are searching around for other shade options.
Leila has a tendency to suddenly realise she is hungry or tired and this leads to crying and tears, so we are trying to anticipate these two things a bit better. We kept a chart for a week or so of her 'timings' and have seen that she can nap after 90 mins, but will definitely need a nap after 2 hours. Therefore if we put her in the sling after 90 mins and start to walk, then she will fall asleep herself, but if we wait until it has been 2 hours since her nap then we have to work a lot harder to get her to sleep.
Leila does not like napping for longer than 30mins. This seems to be her default setting. She also doesn't like not having enough naps during the day. This is only a problem now that we have a 'routine' which gives her a set bedtime. If Leila hasn't napped enough during the day then she will get tired and grouchy from 4.30pm and we then are in a pickle - do we let her have a late nap, or try to keep her awake till her 5.30 bottle?
Twice this month she has been bad at napping for Gina when I am at work. She didn't have any problems napping for a good hour with her when I was working a half day, but now I am doing a full day she sometimes decides that she doesn't want to nap for longer than 10 minutes at a time. This is really hard for Gina to deal with during the day as well as being really hard for us when we get home as an overly tired Leila is not fun!
Sleeping
Sleeping has been a focus for this month really with some successes and some problems (as mentioned about in her 'dislikes'!) Leila's bedtime routine working very well most nights and she is in bed by 7pm so we love our evenings together. She tends to sleep through till 3am well and will go down again after a feed. After this though she tens to wake around 5am and then needs nuzzling to be kept asleep.
Naps in the day are hard work and she needs to be in sling or nuzzling. We have been able to get her to nap in the cot after feeding to sleep sometimes and this is useful for getting a few jobs done around the place (like writing this blog!)
Feeding
Leila has started to get distracted when feeding - especially at Baby Group - and so some feeds are spread out as she fusses. In the evening we sometimes have to have the bedroom totally dark to do final feed for her.
She has been doing OK with bottle, but still doesn't like her medicine which means she refuses to feed much before her bath. Sometimes she struggles with bottle when overly tired, and so has to be fed by me instead.
We are trying to ween her off the Infacol now and so are gradually cutting down the number of times a day we give it to her. Hopefully she will be off it within a month as she is generally farting and burping herself.
New this month
Leila is sleeping in her cot at night rather than the moses basket, and she is sleeping in her cot for some naps during the day.
Leila is also happy in the buggy for walks, and even some sleeping, but we don't do this very often as a sling still feels easier for getting around.
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