Gerrit: 5 Months

Sorry this is SO late! My laptop decided to stop working right before Gerrit turned 5 months old, and I was not about to try to work on a lengthy post on my cell phone. Still waiting on my laptop, but now that we’re in our house, we have the desktop computer set up and running. So here is Gerrit’s 5th month… a little belated!

Age:  5 months on 27 March 2015
Weight: 18 lbs (a guess)
Height: 26″ (another guess)
Teeth: none
Clothing Size: 6 months & 6-9 months
Diaper Size: size 3
Milestones: going to sleep on his own, laughing, gurgling (all the time), finding his feet, finding his ears

Sleeping: My big fear entering Gerrit’s 5th month was the dreaded 4 Month Sleep Regression. Since Gerrit already wasn’t a big fan of sleep, I was sure this was going to be the end of me. And we did have some rough nights. Thankfully, about a week into the month, we discovered that Gerrit could put himself to sleep. Yeah. How long could he do that and wasn’t telling us?! So that took a huge amount of stress out of my evenings. And then we went back to some rough nights again. But by the end of the month, he seemed to be getting back on track again.

In terms of naps? He started out the month only taking catnaps (about 30-45 minutes long) unless I lay down with him. If I was with him, he could nap for 2 hours or more without waking. During the couple of weeks of restless naps/nights, he would rarely sleep longer than 45 minutes whether I was sleeping with him or not. Now at the end of the month, I typically nap with him for the first nap (which are getting longer again, yay!) and try to get him to sleep on his own for the rest of his naps. It’s a work in progress!

At night, we put Gerrit down around 7pm. We’ve tweaked his nighttime routine just a bit. First I give him his bath followed by applying lotion and putting pajamas on. Then he goes to his daddy for a bedtime story while I put the bath stuff away. After his story, Andrew says goodnight to him, and I take him into the bedroom to put him into his sleep sack. Then I sing him a lullaby while I breastfeed in the dark. Once he’s done nursing, I set him down in his bed. He’s usually pretty much asleep at this point, but if he’s not, he’ll suck on his sleep sack until he falls asleep. If he really wakes up, I let him coo/gurgle/whine for 10 minutes before I head back in to pick him up and get him to sleep. If the whining gets more upset-sounding or he starts crying before than 10 minutes, I go in and get him. I just keep doing that until he’s asleep. Sometimes it takes awhile (one night it was an hour and a half), but eventually he stays asleep. I’m hoping this helps him fall asleep on his own regularly (and for naps).

You may have noticed that we stopped swaddling Gerrit. I first stopped swaddling him during naps; I just put him in a sleep sack. But at night this is how I would swaddle him, since he was too strong to keep swaddled in the Halo ones I was using. Well, one night I decided to just try putting Gerrit to bed in a sleep sack. I would put him in a sleep sack with his arms zipped in. He’s able to get his arms out through the arm holes, but I think he likes having them inside because it provides a little resistance if he startles. He also likes to push the fabric up to his mouth so he can suck on it to self-soothe. This means they get washed pretty frequently (old milk smell… gross), but we have quite a few in different fabrics for different temperatures that we can rotate out.

Anyway, Gerrit still usually eats every 2-3 hours at night. He seems to be reverse cycling, which he started doing awhile ago. In general, I don’t mind it. It keeps me from getting engorged, it means I know he’s getting enough to eat after he has a day of not eating well, and I love breastfeeding him when he’s calm and sleepy. It means he’s not choking because he’s trying to look around instead of eat, and he doesn’t swallow a bunch of air since he isn’t gulping milk down. We’ll see how long it lasts. Hopefully not for months on end, but as long as I’m not working (and can nap), I don’t mind.

Eating: I mentioned in the sleeping section that Gerrit was still reverse cycling at the beginning of the month. I would try to feed him between naps, and he would usually eat for a couple of minutes, but he would eat best when he was going down for a nap. He definitely seemed to eat the most at night though. His best feeding was usually right before bedtime.

I would say Gerrit eats about every 2-3 hours during the day and at night. I’m hoping that he starts stretching out his sleep at night or at least going right back to sleep after feedings.

Mommy Update: Once Gerrit started sleeping better at night, my stress level definitely went down. And when he started waking up all the time, it went back up again. I’ve gotten messages from friends and family offering suggestions, encouragement, and different perspectives, and it definitely helped!

I feel like I’m at a pretty constant weight now. I haven’t had a scale to weigh myself on in awhile, but my clothes all fit the same. I’ve started taking Gerrit out for walks in the jogging stroller, and we both enjoy that time outside. As his wake times get longer, I’m hoping we can walk for longer and maybe start jogging once he’s out of the infant seat.

I’m really starting to enjoy playtime with Gerrit now that he’s getting older! He has started to actually enjoy tummy time a bit more, which makes me really relieved. And he loves grabbing toys and putting them in his mouth.

Best Moments: Playtime with Gerrit. He is getting to be so much fun to interact with! He makes the silliest noises.

Likes & Dislikes: Gerrit still really likes standing, but now he also likes taking steps and “climbing” up our torsos. I swear, this kid is going to walk way before we’re ready for it!

He dislikes being left alone. I need to sit and interact with him pretty much all the time if I don’t want to hear him start whining! He also dislikes going to sleep… does that surprise anyone? 🙂

Memorable Events: Gerrit went for his first walks! It was so nice to be outside as the weather warmed up in North Carolina.

Not that we did anything much to celebrate, but Gerrit had his first St. Patrick’s Day:

He also got to welcome his first spring! The weather in North Carolina in spring sure beats spring in England. 🙂

Overall, Gerrit’s 5th month was stressful. I’m not trying to be pessimistic about it, but living out of suitcases in TLF and hotel rooms isn’t much fun. Plus trying to find a house (and bringing poor Gerrit along to see all those houses) and start to get to know the area is tough. But we had plenty of great moments, and Gerrit is proving to have a great personality! We love interacting with him and seeing him learn new things!