6 months old and ready for solids!!  My little baby is growing up so fast.  In preparation of introducing solids, I had been offering B breastmilk from a spoon.  I wanted him to get used to sitting in his highchair and eating from a spoon.  Now that we mastered the spoon feed, time to try pureed foods!

B’s first food: yams.  They were a hit!  He loved them.  He was so excited to be eating food, he was almost shaking.  His little hands were constantly moving, as he kept opening his mouth asking for more.  Yams were a success.  After waiting 3 days to ensure he didn’t have any allergies/reactions to them we moved on.

B’s second food: banana’s.  Aren’t these supposed to be one of kids favourite foods?!  Instant disgust.  He did not like bananas at all.  He tried a couple of bites and every time gagged and spat them back out.  I even tried them again a week later, same reaction.  So bananas are a no go for now.

Some other foods he has tried and like: butternut squash, peas, carrots, and avocados.  Although he prefers is the avocados are mixed with yams.  Green beans by them self weren’t received well, but happily eaten when we mixed them with yams.  We’ve also tried apple sauce and pear sauce.  So far, not the biggest fan of fruit.  He’ll eat it if that’s all that’s offered, but prefers his veggies.  He must take after his father!

~n~

We started a bedtime routine at about 1 month old. Bath time was at 7 and bedtime as soon as he would go down. At the beginning it felt like the schedule was having no effect, but as time went on, he started to adapt to the schedule.

As the weeks went on we perfected his schedule. Bath time is at 6:30, 6:45-7:15 bedtime snack, and 7:15 to bed. Normally by then he is already passed out on me so putting him down for the night is really easy. He sort of wakes a little when I put him in his crib and tuck him into his sleep sac, but usually within 5 minutes he’s sound asleep.

We head to bed soon after. As nice as it is to have a little quiet alone time, I can’t stress enough…. Sleep when baby sleeps! When he wakes up around 5 or 6 I feel pretty much completely rested. There is definitely no tv show that is important enough to lose precious sleep for.

~n~

This safe co-sleeper from Amazon was a lifesaver. Pretty much all newborns just want to be held day and night, which doesn’t result in a very rested or happy momma. Benjamin hated the bassinet we had, even though it was right next to the bed and I would often have my hand holding his to comfort him. I still wasn’t close enough for his liking. I’m a pretty deep sleeper who rolls around a lot at night; the last thing I wanted to do was have him sleep on my chest. I know they say a mother will never roll over her child, but I really didn’t trust myself.

The fist night in the co-sleeper, snuggled up between my hubby and I, he slept so much better! He could see us through the mesh sides and hear us breathing. If you’re going to share your bed with hubby and baby you really need a king size bed. Even then it was pretty cramped.

He slept like this for about 2-3 weeks, until he was only waking about twice a night. We then put his co-sleeper in his crib in his own room. This was a really good way to introduce him to his crib. He looked too tiny to sleep in just his crib. Once he was in his own room, all three of us slept better. We didn’t wake each other up with little noises.

~n~

I found one of the best things we did was take shifts sleeping at night. Baby really just wanted to be held and cuddled all the time. Weeks 2-6 were pretty bad. He would sometimes sleep for 1-2 hours at a time. But that was not enough time for me to get any rest what so ever. So what we did was my hubby took the first shift from 9-2 and let me sleep in the other room. And from 2-7 he would sleep in the other room. This way we were both assured 5 solid hours of sleep. It made a world of difference. Because baby wasn’t getting enough food with breastfeeding alone at this point, he was used to a few formula feeds.

We both made the decision to bring a baby into this world, so it was not both our responsibility to care for him. There was no point having us both sleeping in the same room as baby for the whole night, constantly getting woken up. I highly highly recommend doing this if possible!! It makes the first few weeks home so much more enjoyable.

~n~

The first week actually wasn’t too bad. Benjamin was jaundice, which made him really sleepy. Getting him to eat was a chore. We actually would get around 5 hour stretches at night.

Because he was such a lazy eater, he dropped down to 5lbs 15 oz; so tiny. Because he was almost 3 weeks early, he had issues with breastfeeding. The doctors and nurses all said he should get the hang of it soon. But the poor guy just wasn’t getting it. He would scream for hours because he was so hungry. Finally, my mom went out and bought some formula, and as soon as he had some of that he finally had a full tummy.

Everyone knows that breastfeeding is the best choice for babies, but when it’s just not working and baby is hungry, you need to supplement. The one thing I really wish someone had told me was how hard breastfeeding could be. You hear all the stories and watch videos in prenatal classes showing how easy and natural it is supposed to be. I’ve gotta say, I’m extremely jealous of those mummas!! It was anything but easy for us. It was extremely challenging and time consuming and emotionally draining.

If someone had just told me that some baby’s have issues learning how to breastfeed and may need some formula as a supplement for a while, life would have been so much easier during the first 3 weeks. My husband and I struggled dealing with a screaming baby all night long. Little did we know our poor baby was hungry because he wasn’t stimulating enough milk production. When we finally gave him some formula at night he started to sleep in short bursts. Which at this point we were stoked!

~n~