Oops, bad Mummy. I missed Pearl’s fourth month update! Second baby problems right there as for Violet’s I filmed a video to document her journey – oops! I think I can let myself off though, as in that time we’ve had Christmas, a string of illnesses plus major home renovations going on so things haven’t exactly been quiet around here. Pearl has been so good with it all though, taking everything in her stride, even smiling when she feels grotty from her injections or filled with cold. She is just the calmest baby in the world!
FEEDING
Pearl is now a fully formula fed baby, although I did drag my frozen breastmilk stash out for as long as possible, only giving her the final bag this week. We had a few issues finding the right formula for her but settled with Hipp Organic. Pearl has always been quite sick after feeds (even with breastmilk) so we’ve been hoping that she would grow out of it around 3-4 months but as month 5 crept in I felt maybe we needed to step in and give her some help. I took Pearl to the GP and she was prescribed with Gaviscon for reflux. We were going to try that but after hearing it causes bad constipation we decided against it until we’d tried all the more ‘natural’ options. I eventually stumbled across Hipp Organic Anti-Reflux milk and bought some gripe water. This seems to be the winning combination and has really helped, she’s a lot less sick and seems more comfortable too so we’ll stick with it.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about weaning as that is coming up very soon, we bought some baby porridge and gave her a little bit to try to see if she’s ready. She absolutely loved it so we are planning to crack on with weaning properly the moment she hits 6 months in February. I feel like there is more pressure to get it right this time as Violet turned out to be so fussy so I’m going to try a few different things to when I weaned Violet, for example just giving vegetables before introducing sweet fruit tastes. We shall see how it goes!
SLEEPING
Pearl is STILL waking every 3 hours in the night. It’s her routine now and can’t see how we can break the cycle. I bought myself a fitbit at Christmas which tells me when I’ve woken up in the night and I’m finding our wake-ups are almost to the minute every night like clockwork. She takes most of her feeds in the night, guzzling four 6oz bottles at regular intervals during the night and then just ‘snacking’ during the day. I’ve tried everything to turn this around but she seems set in her ways. I keep telling myself that maybe when she’s weaning she’ll be more interested in food in the day but who knows! Until then, I’m glad coffee exists as I’d do anything for a good night’s sleep!
DEVELOPMENT
Pearl has come on leaps and bounds with her development over the last two months. She can roll both ways now, laying on her front holding her head up high. If I put her down under her playmat and leave the room, I’ll often find only a minute later she’s right across the room. She kicks her legs like she wants to crawl and doesn’t stay still for two moments! She’s so boisterous, she’ll pull her toys on her playmat so hard the whole thing collapses so we have to keep watching out as I’ve found her underneath a heap of toys looking a bit surprised! She’s started to sit up for a few seconds before toppling backwards!
She is fully able to grasp toys with both hands, examine them, follow and react to sounds and make lots of sounds of her own. She’s so noisy, cooing, gurgling, giggling, singing all day. People turn around in the street and shops as they hear us coming with her singing constantly everywhere we go!
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO
Pearl is getting on well with her swimming lessons, almost at the end of Water Babies Chapter One, she’s learnt to swim under water, hold onto the side and kick her legs in the water. We also go to a baby massage class, which she loves but she’s such a wriggler it’s hard to do any of the techniques as I find myself having to twist and turn with her rolling continually!
We had another trip to Drusillas, the Sealife centre and a first visit to Paradise Park in Newhaven, where I thought the giant dinosaurs would scare both Violet and Pearl but they both seemed so intrigued! Pearl also experienced her first Christmas and her first go on a swing.
Pearl is still dragged about to her big sisters playdates, softplay and on the nursery run but is such an easygoing girl she doesn’t seem to mind at all and goes happily along for the ride most places we go!
MONTHS FOUR AND FIVE:
Feeding: Formula – Hipp Organic Anti-Reflux seems to do the trick. A gentle introduction to baby porridge
Weight: 6.9kg – 50th percentile
Sleeping: STILL waking every 3 hours, when is it going to end?!
Skills: Rolling across the floor to get across a room, pulling her playmat completely down, holding head up well, sitting for a couple of seconds before falling to the side, learning to swim, shaking a rattle
Favourite things: Toys of all colours, textures, sounds and feels, playing with her sister, feeding in the middle of the night
Hated things: Waiting for food, being fed sitting up, rolling away from the toys and getting stuck
