24 weeks

So many things have happened these past weeks and I haven’t had much time to adjust to the changes. 

Gwyn is now 24 weeks. She has gone from her extra long 4th month growth spurt to starting her first solids now!

Sleep
The growth spurt that comes with sleep regression has basically eaten into the 5th month and hopefully it will end before the 6th month. For the past 2 weeks, her sleep has been so strange.
She starts her final milk feed at 845pm and I put her down drowsy around 9-ish. She’ll sleep for 10mins and wake up screaming to be held or comforted and this sleep-wake pattern repeats till about 11.15pm or even midnight on a very bad night.
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BUT, I solved the mystery last night (or at least I think I did)! She’s been a back sleeper all this while and the past few nights I’ve tried placing her on her side and it worked for awhile before she’d start screaming again. Last night, she decided that she wanted to turn to sleep on her side ALL ON HER OWN.

So i left her there and cleared the bed of all the pillows and blankets (to prevent suffocation) and SHE FELL ASLEEP. Problem solved (fingers crossed!!).

First Solids
At her 4th month paed’s visit, she was recommended to include two meals of solids since she was only charting at the 25th percentile (which is approx 6.9kg, 62cm). The doc said baby cereal, so we just grabbed a regular box of wheat+honey cereal suitable for 6 month olds (wait don’t judge me yet, I will explain!)
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At about 21 weeks, I gave her about 4 teaspoons of formula-mixed cereal twice a day and she loved it. No allergies, no fussiness. Just an excited little kiddo. So I started on pureed vegetables – pumpkin, zucchini and carrots.

She hates carrots so far (just like her brother!). She would purse her lips so tight and forcefully spit out any bits that managed to get in!
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Feeling a little lost as to what other foods to introduce, I looked to my trusty baby books (because the internet has way too much differing info, I can’t decide which to rely on).

The more I read, the more I realised I was doing it all wrong! I was supposed to get Rice Cereal, not Wheat Cereal. Because wheat usually brings out the allergies. And honey isn’t supposed to be given to young babies. Great. The books also say string beans and peas are best vegetable starters, both of which I had totally forgotten about. *smacks forehead*

So i’m ditching the wheat cereal for now. I’m going to get some rice cereal. I’ll probably get her started on peas, sweet potatoes and squash this week. Then I’ll introduce the fruits the week after. Rule of thumb is to give the same food 3-4 times before moving on to the next so you can suss out any digestive issues or allergies.
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Mum of 2 and still messing it up haha. Just glad the baby is happy to eat and drink and sleep. I’m not going to beat myself up for feeding her the wrong stuff…cos she liked them anyway hahah

but I am going to stop forcing her to eat carrots because: 
(Quoted from Dr Spock's Baby and Childcare )

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