I hate to start on a negative tone but I’m really not loving this 4-months age so far. I obviously still love my adorable 4-months old baby to bits (!!) but this stage in her development is a challenging one. It has also been interesting, like I wrote in New baby milestones reached but it’s definitely also been challenging. Teething in particular can turn sweet little angel babies to absolute nightmares, it would seem. Sleep regression, crying, fussing during feeds, making strange with everyone but mummy and daddy – oh dear, I’m glad I didn’t know this was coming!!
Around 15-20 weeks of age babies go through a giant leap in their mental development. According to The Wonder Weeks (I’ve got the app) babies learn to perceive events and can now perceive multiple smooth transitions such as waving of the hand. They can also see as far as we can and grab objects, shake them and take them to their mouth to explore them. This fourth leap is often associated with the three Cs: clingy, cranky and crying. Sounds familiar?! Oh yes…
I’m so excited about how much Maia has learned recently – she can roll over to her back from her tummy (and nearly from her tummy to her back!), wiggle around the axis (which is her head) on the floor, grab toys, sit and stand with light support, and even take her socks off! It’s only natural that all these developments have had an impact in her behaviour but admittedly it’s a bit hard on us parents. We are now in the middle of this leap and until recently Maia has still slept well and so I had the energy to deal with her moodiness during the day. Unfortunately though, adding poor sleep to the equation has made the parenting gig a notch tougher again. But as you can see from my photos, we still have fun and cute moments every day!! Just need to take the bad with the good until this phase passes…
Physically my mini has continued to grow spot on on her (9th centile) graph weighing now 5.46kg (12lb). Maia has more than doubled her birth weight now! I’m packing away her newborn clothes and she wears size “1-3 months”. She’s moved up a nappy size to Pampers 2. Two weeks ago she also changed from her Gro Snug swaddle-like sleeping bag to a “big girl” Gro bag. After a few restless nights she got used to not being as snug and now she sleeps well in her sleeping bag (or used to before this sleep regression anyway!). I close the armholes with a popper since she sleeps better with her arms tugged in. Speaking of sleeping, she’s starting to be too big for her Moses basket! We’ll need to start looking for cots soon.
Last week she got her third round of vaccinations. I’d heard this would be the worst round and indeed it was. She got three injections to her legs and her reaction was heart breaking. I literally felt sick to my stomach holding her still for the jabs. I was actually helping someone to inflict pain on my poor bubba! For a good reason of course, but still…
I asked the nurse to help me give her the first dose of Calpol since I struggled to give it last time and the meningitis vaccination usually causes fever. Maia was pretty knocked out by the Calpol and went to bed easily but woke up at 3am burning hot with fever and crying her eyes out. I had a little cry myself at one point as I felt so bad for her and so tired from not sleeping. The next day her thigh, the one injected with the meningitis vaccination, had become red with inflammation and had a big lump under the skin. This was apparently normal but it still freaked me out a bit. Poor girl. It took two days for Maia to recover. I believe in vaccinations and didn’t question getting Maia vaccinated but I’m so glad we’re now done until she turns one year old.
And then there is teething. The Wonder Weeks app says big physical changes won’t happen during significant mental leaps but at least from my mum & baby network several babies have started showing symptoms of teething recently (around 4-months). Maia chews on absolutely everything, dribbles and is irritable. I asked the health visitor about it yesterday and she said the babies can start feeling pressure and itchiness in their gums long before the teeth actually pierce through. I got Maia some teething gel and granules and we’ll see if they help. The discomfort keeps waking her up at night and nothing but the boob seems to console her. This is why I’ve ended up sleeping with her again on a few nights. I wouldn’t even mind the co-sleeping if only I could sleep well with her in the bed, but I can’t. It’s still better than pacing around the flat in the middle of the night trying to stop her crying. Pick your battles.
With everything that’s going on with Maia and with her having been poorly after the vaccinations and us going away for Easter on top of everything, it’s hard to pinpoint to what exactly is causing her sleep regression and irritability. I think it’s teething but who knows. It doesn’t really matter though. All of these things will pass eventually and we’ll just take it day by day and will try to make her happy and comfortable.
After all, we are very fortunate to have such a healthy little girl who is simply going through a normal phase in her development. And I’d do anything to put a smile on her cute face!
xoxoxo,
Sini