four months
to
five months
(October 1 - November 1)
Ever since our trip to the cabin with Pacada’s, Jonah has been waking up two to three times in the night, typically after 3:00 AM and every hour or so after that. I wanted to wait until he was about four months old before I tried to sleep train him for the night. He has done so well up to this point, and even still it is not that bad so I am thankful for what I have been given.
Jason got out the Bumbo and Jonah has started sitting in it! He does well, but has to be watched closely so he doesn’t arch out of it. He also started taking baths with Colson in the tub while sitting in the Bumbo.
The gripe water seems to be losing its effectiveness and he still cries when putting him down for a nap. I still give him five minute intervals to try and self soothe before going in and trying to give him the Binky. I’ll go through that rotation twice before picking him up and rocking him to sleep. I have also been putting him down for a nap without swaddling him because when he cries he seems to want to get out of the swaddling, so I just lightly put a blanket around him to signal to him that it’s time for a nap.
Jonah has rolled over several times from his back to his front!
He always seems very interested while watching us eat. He smacks his lips and drools. For his own feedings, he only seems to want to eat for short periods of time, on and off.
And later in the month he is still waking up one to three times in the middle of the night.
Jonah is doing really well with being able to support a bit more of his weight on his legs. He can support it for a while longer now. He is also getting better at grabbing at things intentionally.
He is very alert and reactive now. We are seeing more smiles, cooing, and laughing! We love it!
He has had many painful days of teething. He will just grab at this lower gums many times a day.
Jonah is getting a bald spot on the back of his head. The hair on top of his head is crazy, unruly, and sticks straight up.
By the end of the month, the sleeping and self soothing strategy had gotten ridiculous. The gripe water and going in every 10-20 minutes was no longer working, and even the rare times that it did work, he only slept for 30 minutes before waking up again. And then at night, he was waking up 30 minutes to an hour after putting him down and then waking up every one to two hours. I nursed him every time at first, but then he got so full that nursing stopped working at night and he just kept crying. So I started studying the baby sleep habits book. It said to start working towards a sleep schedule and that I could let him cry it out for nap for one hour and for bed, unlimited (but if he wakes after four or so hours of sleep, to go in and nurse. At this age it is still appropriate to feed at night once or twice. If he wakes before a three or four hour mark, then to let him cry. He doesn’t need to feed, he is just wanting attention.) So we did that and that has helped at night. Naps though, sometimes he will literally scream the entire hour. Other times he will scream for 30 minutes before falling asleep. I have started adjusting my work out time (I would usually go at 9:30 AM, but now I’m going at 10:30 AM) to hopefully help him with a sleep schedule. It's been hard to consistently let him cry the hour for a nap because it seems too harsh since he seems content on screaming it out that long many days in a row. I have started resorting to nursing him to sleep, but if he doesn’t fall completely asleep I will still lay him down and sometimes that works. As you can tell, naps are hard and very stressful. He is also rolling over very easily and consistently now, so I can’t swaddle him. He just keeps kicking and kicking until he is free, and then the top part of the swaddle starts opening up, but sometimes tightening around his neck. He also grabs it and waves it over his face unable to move it away. I can’t sleep him in the Rock N’ Play because he can arch and turn, nearly falling out. During his crying, sometimes he will roll to his stomach and get stuck and angry. Sometimes he will roll into the bars of the crib. I had to get rid of the soft blanket on top of the sheets as well. I would use it for him to have extra cushion to sleep on, but now he gets to the corners of it and sometimes flops that over his face. So again, needless to say, naps seem to be a mess right now. I really don't want the habit of nursing him to sleep every time, because with two other kids, it just isn’t possible, but I don’t feel good to continue to make him cry it out for an hour! I was hoping an hour of crying would subside after three days, but after about a week it seems to not be getting better. I am overwhelmed and frustrated by the whole thing.
Here are other pictures of Jonah from the past month:
check out this profile:
With Daddy's cousin, Luke Gruber
Here is the story behind this face (as described in my last October post):
"I made Jonah a Beaker costume for Halloween (from Muppets...since that is his nickname with the squeaks he makes and beak-like nose he has). Jason took the two older boys to some other neighborhoods for trick or treating. I took Jonah back to the house where the rest of the family and I had to deal with the Beaker hat that was brutally stuck on Jonah’s head. It was seriously on there! The hat had been pushed down hard to cover his face for a second as a joke, which must have changed the shape of the poster board that I had built to fit snugly on the top of his head. I dramatically ended up having to cut and rip the dang hat apart to get it off of him! The whole thing was quite traumatic and Jonah was all tears!"
love this picture of Jonah
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