This coming Tuesday is Mardi Gras so we had fun with beads this week! The mask is Photoshopped :)
Five months old already? Days are flying by!
Cameron is now sleeping in her crib every night and goes to bed easily for night and naps. She still sleeps between 11 and 12 hours straight every night and takes three naps during the day. Ever since she was born, we did the feed-on-demand, baby-led schedule which has recently developed into a perfect 4-hour schedule for eating and sleeping on it's own with minimal guidance from me. Cameron is doing wonderfully on formula and has dropped the "snack feed" in the early evening. She now takes four larger bottles almost exactly four hours apart.
At 5 months Cameron loves watching Dulce, playing with my fingers when she drinks her bottles, looking in the mirror, bringing things to her mouth, rolling over, being upright and looking around, "talking", making noises, and bath time (though she hates the actual "getting washed" part).
She really is a generally happy and content baby.
Cameron learned to roll from her back to her stomach last week and now she does it constantly! I took video of her efforts on multiple days and actually captured her first roll on video as well. Johnnie picked out a song, Don't Give Up by Bruno Mars featured on Sesame Street, and I combined the video clips to make a short montage... enjoy!
The problem now is that half the time she forgets that she knows how to roll back onto her back. After a few minutes of happily looking around, she gets very frustrated that she is on her stomach. I always let her cry for a few minutes before I "rescue her" so that she has some time to try to figure it out on her own... and sometimes she does.
Two weeks ago I wrote that I was going to start weaning Cameron from swaddling. When Cameron is swaddled for nighttime or for naps, she literally falls asleep within minutes and stays asleep. When she is not swaddled, she tosses and turns for 15+ minutes before falling asleep and wakes herself up often with her flailing arms. We tried "no swaddle" sleeping a few times that first week with no luck. Last week she slept unswaddled in her swing (being inclined helped her breath while sick) but she woke up often from coughing/stuffiness anyway. Once she got over her cold we tried a few more nights unswaddled but again, no solid sleep for either of us.
I started swaddling her in the first place after reading the book and watching the video, The Happiest Baby on the Block (which is a must for all new parents!), so I looked to see what the author, Dr. Harvey Karp, had to say about ending the swaddle... "Your daughter may not be ready to be weaned from the swaddle just yet. Many babies need swaddling up to 8, 9 or 10 months. If she is waking often, she still needs a full swaddle. Every few weeks try a one-arm-free swaddle and see how she fares. Eventually she will sleep just as well with the one arm out and then you can try and stop the swaddling altogether."
After reading that, I realized that Cameron just isn't ready to be unswaddled yet. So we are back to swaddling and we are both sleeping great. I was actually really nervous about swaddling her now that she can roll over but when she's in her Miracle Blanket with her arms pinned to her sides, she can't roll over. I tested that with naps for a few days before doing it at night.
Only a couple more months to go before Johnnie returns. Cameron has accomplished a lot already but I'm thankful that she'll save some of the bigger milestones (such as first steps and first words) for daddy to see and hear in person :)
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"Focus on quality and ease of movement, not on the age a milestone is accomplished."
~Magda Gerber
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