5 months development

 

Can't believe she is 5 months.

So Ariyah-mai was 5 months on the 16th off march but with moving and the everything being so busy I have not update you all on how she is doing.

In the last few weeks she has just all of a sudden just seems so big, no longer our tiny premmy baby. It was like a switch she was still our tiny baby to now just being so grown up.

With all the packing and moving I feel as though a few things got lost in the moment. We were busy and she had been so unsettled. However since moving it has done wonders for us all. She is calmer, not as fussy and much happier. Don't get me wrong she has her moments as do all babies. But we have seen a real difference in her.

In our old flat she had never really been settled. We traveled so much and we were away from home a lot so I do not think she truly felt at home there. Because of the damp we were all in one room so we tryed to be else where as much as possible. But this did not help ariyah or us get into a routine. She was theething and not sleeping. She was crying all the time. Very fussy and still very sick from her reflux.

She suffered with her reflux and this cold and cough for ages.

Well since moving she still has a cold but it is so much better, these were very scary moments where she be coughing and choking. Or heavy breath and struggling because she was so bunged up. We have not had any thing like this at all. She is sniffy but that is all. Her breathing is soo much better.

Feeding/reflux

With her reflux she is still stuffing so we have re started her medication again, which is helping to settle it. We just go though lots of musys and bibs. Sometime serval cloth changed for her as well as ourselves.

She also wanting more milk and is a very hungry baby. She is now taking 7oz every 3/4 hours. So around 5/6 with in a day. Sometimes she only drink 5/6 oz and then at night she will have the extra later on. We never been in much of a routine with her milk because of many reasons. Her reflux has limited how much milk, in one go she has been able to handle, meaning she was drink little and often like a newborn for alot longer. Then she would go though days where she wanted more normally meaning she having a growth spurt. However with her cold she also then struggled and have days were she hardly drink. One week she was really bad and hardly drunk at all, was still having wet nappies. She did end up in a&e again due to this they said she had a sore throat and a respiratory viral infection. So lots of TLC, cold water and little and often of her milk she was soon back to normal.

So if your baby is not really in a routine, or some days drinking more then others try not to worry too much, they put all these guidelines out of how much they should have at what age, however every baby is different. You know them best! If they are gaining weight, healthy and happy, still having plenty of wet or dirty nappies you know they are on the right track. In spite of that do not be afraid to seek help and advice from other parents or health professionals.

Weaning. 

We started to wean Ariyah-mai early, due to her reflux and that she was a very hungry baby. At 13 weeks, just over three months we gave her baby rice, mixed with her precription milk. Then gave her some rucks again mix with her milk. At about 4 months she was then holding and sucking on rusk with support from us.

Around 4 1/2 months she started trying to grab food off us. If anyone was holding her whilst eating she would try grab it and bring it to her month. She was wanting more milk more often but not stomaching it due to her being sick. She grabbed a sausage roll from her nanny. (obviously we did not let her have it) then bannan off her cousin which we then did mash up and let her try.

We planned to stream and blend veg for her firstly then mix in fruit however due to moving, her wanting food and not having a blender yet, we brought some Ella kitchen pouches,

First just plain carrot or bannan ones and she loved them.

On the 8th so just under 5 months we went out to eat with a friend. That afternoon  Nanny Tina had made roast so she blended up some carrots, peas and broccoli which we took with us. Ariyah-mai sat in a high chair for the first time and ate blender veg dinner. We were not ready for how grown up she was getting.

Now that we have moved and settled, we have brought a baby blender and a hight chair for her. She loves sitting in it and eating, We give her two meals breakfast and dinner with a snack in the middle of day. She has rusks or porriage for breakfast then Ella kitchen pouch or blended veg for dinner. She also really like cucumber which we recently been giving her as finger food that she holds herself. We have started giving her things a bit thicker or finger food to chrow on, which helps with her teeth.

Her favourite are:

• Sweet potato 
• Cucumber
• Carrot
• Peaches 
• Parnip
• Prunes
•  apple 

She does not seem to like (but will keep trying) 

• Peas
• Brocoli 
• Mash
• Strawberries
• Banana 

Teeth

Ariyah-mai NOW has 2 Teeth.

As you can see in this photo her two front teeth are starting to come in. This was following some very difficult nights and days, she has suffered with theething since 7/8 weeks old where they were moving. Some babies do not feel this and won't know untill the teeth are cutting, but not Ariyah. However finally her teeth are cutting through so hopeful she may have a break soon. Although it does seem that way as she has more on the sides too.

With Ariyah nothing really helps, we tried the gel, we have Addison and parsons one which has a brush bit on the end that helps brush the gel into her gums. Then the powder. While they may help a little it does not last long at all, so the only thing that helps is calpol. Meanwhile we try not to give this straight away. Instead giving her calpol at night to settle her to sleep better.

She does not take to teethers, we have tried all different ones but prefers her hands. We tried the Mitton teethers which go on their hands however she does not like them and will shake her hand and pull them off, or shout until we take it off. Whem she was young she could not hold any in her month so we had to. Now she can hold them but does not really like them, she chrows hhe hands or musy.

Now she is eating we try to use cold food like cucumber or rusks for her to chow instead. It is hard to see your baby in pain and know there is nothing we can do to help her.

As a positive note she has now realised that her teeth help to bite and chrow food, which is great when we are giving her bite melts, waffer or soft fruits.

Sleep. 

Ariyah-mai has never been great at sleeping. There was a week or so that she was sleeping though the night on a few occasions, although this did not happen very often. She got to big for her moses basket and kept waking herself up because she was tossing and turing thus hitting the sides. Since moving she now sleeps in her cot. That first night in her cot was a big moment. She still looked so tiny in there but slept very well. She doesn't really like napping in there but it is still very new.

Since moving we have been trying to get into a routine. As we never had one and also been so busy, we travelled alot with me having surgery. But now we in our new house and got more time to spend together. We been setting nap and bed time routine.

I will do more of a post about our routine in another post.

But ariyah having trouble sleeping and napping at the moment. It could be a result of being in a new home, different environment. But we working on it.

Milestones 

As I stated at the beginning ariyah has just suddenly grown up. She reached many new milestones, and got some first now.

First night and sleeping in her cot.
First teeth
Rolled over from back to belly.
First holding own food
Drinking water from a sippy cup.
First laugh
Sitting unaided
Holding her bottle herself.
Grasping and shaking toys, or pulling toys
Realises cause and effect.
First time in the garden feeling the grass

So now ariyah can roll all she does is roll over, she wants to crawl so much and be on the move but is not quite there yet. She uses her head to shuffle forward. She has the moments with her legs to push however not got the coordination to move her arms at the same time. But she can roll and turn herself or shuffle to where she wants to reach her toys.

She can sit unaided for quite a while now and starting to push herself and balance when she falls/leans. If she does fall to the side (obviously we are sat with her) she catches herself with her arms and rolls onto her tummy.

But most of all she loves to stand, she will step if we hold her hands, she stands playing at the play table and will hold on to the sofa or things when stood up. We put her in the walker and jumperoo however she is still alittle to small so can not move herself in the walker yet. But loves standing in it as we move her around and she steps. She laugh so much, to the fact this was the first time we got a real belly laugh from her.

She has a very cheeky and playful sense of humor. She will laugh if we tell cats off, or if we messs around with her. Like do not throw that toy, she laugh and does it. She also loves to but held in the air and tiggled. She very rough play kinda girl which we are so glad about.

She loves nosey musical toys, anything that rattles or she can bang. There are a few that are her favourite hangy toys on her play at. That eirther rattle or have sensory textured materials. She likes her playmat with the keyboard that she kicks, but now she can sit up she also likes to sit and play it. She also really likes teddies, as she a very cuddly baby. So will cuddle teddies and her rainbow knitted blanket.

Other things she enjoys is sensory play, foil blanket, bubble and glow stitches are her favourite. She bangs the glow stitch together and waves them around. She loves the ball pit, sensory and rattle balls. So anything nosey, that lights up or feels good.

Water is another favourite she really loved when we first took her swimming, even dunked her under and she was not fazed at all. She loves slashing and will slash and laugh in the bath. We started putting toys and glow sticks in there and she will try grabbing for them. Can't wait to be able to take her swimming again, or get the paddling pool out.

We started reading more with her too as she taking interest in holding and looking at books, again she likes the sensory touch ones.

She also loves the cats, hayes will come to cuddle her, she actually sits and strokes him really gentle, even if she grabs he is so calm with her. She will watch them walking arounnd and try crawl after them. Cats or pets are great motivations for babies to crawl after. I know as she grows they are going to be best friends.

She does not like nursery rhymes or lullabies other then you are my sun shine, which is the only thing that really calms her. She will fall asleep as we sing it to her.

She just seems so grown up now, getting her own personality, she makes it very clear what's she wants, as she will talk and makes very clear happy or frustrated noises. She will put her arms up when she
wants to be picked up, or push us when she wants to be put down. she will grab our face and cuddle in to us. She even started giving us kiss now too.

Advice to others.
You know best as a parent. We found health professionals did not really heelp tbh, our health visit never answered our Gp were not pediatricians so they told us to talk to our health visit, she said to talk to gp or go to the clinic. At the clinic they just weighted ariyah and again if we asked about things we weren't given very good or clear advice. We got her weighted every every two weeks due to her reflux andd her prematurity. But sshe was slowing gaining, thus we knew she was healthy. We took other parents advice and help from family who had all had there own children. Those parents living it or raised babies normally know better. You as a parent know your baby better. So sick to your gut. We did and glad we did.

If baby is not in a routine, sleeping or feeding do not worry to much. They will soon find their own. All babies are different so do not compare yours with anyone else's. Ariyah is advance in some areas but not others. She not as coodniated with her arms and still struggles to grasp things orr move toys between her hands. But had really strong legs to help her stand aand step. All abies develop at their own pace and will get there when they are ready.

Phtots of Ariyah and her millstones.

(Written in April 2020)