Not really a baby anymore, my girl is 10-months old! Or ten and half to be exact. For the last 10-days we’ve been fighting off a nasty cold but Maia is finally better. Which of course means that I have life outside snot rags and Calpol again, ha ha! Jokes aside, it’s been heart breaking to see my baby poorly even when it’s “just a cold”. 😔 And life has admittedly been harder for me too, because Maia has been unhappy (for a good reason) and very high maintenance…
When Maia turned 10-months, I took her to the baby clinic again for the monthly weighing. I think she got the cold from one of the 15 babies in the waiting room to be honest… I don’t like taking a healthy child to the medical centre for this exact reason – it’s full of sick people! But oh well, I did need to see the health visitor to monitor our Mini’s growth. The good news is that she is growing well, staying on her trajectory between 2nd and 9th centile line in the growth chart by weighing now 6.9kg. Weaning hasn’t been super easy as Maia is an independent and determined little lady who likes to decide what and how much she eats, and doesn’t like being spoon-fed. I’m all for baby led weaning but her size is a bit of a sensitive topic to me and I’m always a bit nervous about the weighing. But all good!
Well, all good until she got the cold and went off all solid food for more than a week (back on the boob)!! I took her to the GP after a week of barely any solid food because I was getting worried. The GP said I was doing the right thing breastfeeding while Maia was sick and that she’d start eating again when she’s better. That’s what’s happened – what a relief! I had forgotten how tiring breastfeeding around the clock can be. That being said, I feel happy and lucky that our breastfeeding journey has gone so well and I was able to breastfeed exclusively even now while she was sick giving her all the antibodies, nutrients, love and care in the way which feels the most natural to us.
Apart from the recent cold though, our little girl is doing very well. According to the Wonder Weeks-app, in this seventh leap of her mental development Maia is learning about sequences and can now recognise a flow of events and link actions together. Such as the “fun” game of intentionally dropping things on the floor for mummy to pick up! This new skill has also meant that we have had to up our game in parenting because otherwise she’s learning bad habits.
In hindsight, I think it was a good time to do the sleep training because Maia can now really understand and remember the sequence of events leading up to bed-time and she is also able to remember that yes, we did this last night too and it was ok, mummy came back in the morning. Obviously we had many other reasons to sleep train, mainly that we were absolutely exhausted and needed to sleep! Read more about sleep training in the specific post from last week. As a result, we have been sleeping very well for the past two weeks which has been a real milestone! Maia falls asleep in her cot around 6.45pm and wakes up for a feed around 4.30am/5.30am. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
Every week I notice new little things in Maia that make her more child-like rather than a baby. The other day we walked past a playground Maia likes and one we often go to. She recognised the place and protested when we didn’t go in! Sounds like a small thing at first, but it’s crazy to think that just a few months ago she was pretty oblivious to her whereabouts and didn’t really seem to care either, as long as mummy or daddy were with her.
Overall, Maia is showing her feelings more explicitly. She shows affection by giving us big wet open-mouth kisses which is so cute although a bit gross. The tantrums have started as well, which is less fun. She can crawl fast and is very skilled at escaping a nappy change which is why I’ve started changing her on the floor. Getting her dressed requires some acrobatics as well. (Seriously, what’s so bad about putting on clothes??)
A month ago I had reduced day-time breastfeeding to minimum because Maia didn’t seem to need nor want it. When she was poorly though, it was very clear that Maia wanted the boob. In fact, she has started to help herself to the boob, diving into my cleavage or lifting my t-shirt. I’m not going to lie, it is a bit weird! I can’t even explain why it’d be awkward when I’ve been breastfeeding her for 10-months, but somehow her behaviour makes me feel like a human milk tap…
Another illustration of Maia’s growing understanding of things is her new skill of crying with her mouth closed when it’s time to take medicine (I gave her Calpol with a syringe for fever when she was sick). Clever little monkey.
Maia stands up with a little bit of support but when she’s up she can let go without falling, at least for five seconds! She likes her activity table and I’m very pleased I bought it instead of a jumperoo. I don’t think Maia would like to be trapped in one place.
I think she’s definitely still been teething, but the seventh tooth has not yet appeared. I’m complaining again (sorry!) but if I had to name the worst thing during the baby year it would be teething. Poor babies (and parents). I got Maia a toothbrush when she got her first tooth but first I struggled to brush her teeth. Then I started giving the brush to her in the bath and she puts it into her mouth and plays with it. That’s my opportunity to help her to brush her little toothy pegs.
Although I feel a bit sentimental about not having a little baby anymore, it’d so exciting to watch Maia develop into a little person! I would almost go as far as to say I prefer this stage to when she was a newborn because she’s like my little best friend and we can do things together, but she’s still small enough to want to cuddle and kiss mummy. I’m already dreading the day she refuses to hold my hand!
xoxoxo,
Sini