5 Months and Counting

On 2 March 2009

5 months old! Can it be? It doesn’t seem too long ago when you were the wee little one that we first cradled in our arms, and yet here you are, so quickly growing into your own little person. I can’t remember you looking any different from now, so imperceptibly have you grown in my eyes, but the photos tell another story. You’ve changed and grown so much, my little man.

Someone (I think it was Auntie Peifen) told me you feel a lot of guilt about everything as a mummy, and this month in particular, that really rang true. First it was the bad bout of rashes you suffered early in the month. It was heartbreaking to see the angry red marks covering your body. Uncle Gideon suggested that we leave you topless to see if it would ease the rash, but after about half an hour, I told your Daddy to put your shirt back on, partly cos I knew it wasn’t heat rash (and the airing therefore would not help) but mostly because I couldn’t bear to see your body with the rash all over it. Daddy teased me quite a bit about my mournful face but mournful was how I felt. I was only grateful that it didn’t itch — the rash certainly bothered me a whole lot more than it bothered you!

The rash was later diagnosed as an allegic reaction, probably to something you ate. Since you take only breastmilk, that meant that it was probably something I ate. You can’t imagine how guilty I felt for doing this to you. I really don’t know what I could have eaten but Auntie Chien Yee (your doctor) thought it may have been the overeating during CNY that did you in. Your rash disappeared after a short course of antihistamines and we have since been on a shellfish-less, peanut-less and berry-less (well, almost) diet, just to be safe.

I’m sorry that your first taste of something other than milk turned out to be medicine. It was banana flavoured but I don’t think you were too enamoured of it.

Then there’s the fact that I’ve gone back to work. I felt so bad leaving you the first morning, and felt even worse when I heard that you rejected your bottles. But it was oh-so-lovely to come home to your hugs at the end of the day.

Which brings me to my next point, which is that as a mummy, there’s also plenty of joy. You’ve grown and developed a whole lot this month and they say it gets quicker after 6 months so I’m looking forward to that!

You’ve gotten the hang of flipping over (and over and over…) and now there’s just no keeping you in any one position. Needless to say, while wiping your back has never been eaiser, I really don’t look forward to diaper changes these days.

You’ve finally started to reach for items that catch your attention, much to your Daddy’s relief. He’s been faithfully following through your expected milestones and while you’re mostly ahead or on target, this was the one thing he couldn’t check off the box. Now he can. I’m not sure if he’s regretting it yet.

You’ve moved on from trying to stuff your fist in your mouth to sucking on a combination of your fingers. Unfortunately this is still not satisfying enough to put you to sleep on your own. All it does is leave you with wet fingers which I keep having to clean.

You are on the verge of sitting up on your own. Every time I place you propped against a pillow, you’ll do stomach crunches as you try so very hard to sit up. You just hate lying down! Even in your carseat, you have to lift your head to have a better view of stuff going on around you.

Similarly, you seem to be on the verge of crawling. You already do a good push up, and for some time now you have been able to creep forward towards something of interest, kicking your butt into the air while pushing with your face on the ground (ouch). This when you’re not just yelling at us to “give the item to me already!”

You’ve come to really love your baths. As a newborn, you really loved the water but you’ve been a bit more neutral about it in the past couple of months. Now however, you’ve realised that bath time is play time as well.

You are REALLY interested in our food, lunging for it and drooling all over. You routinely reach for the cups which we drink from and appear fascinated by the fact that they could be cold/hot. Utensils are also a hot favourite.

On a related note, you have become much more distracted during your feeds and it’s so difficult sometimes to get you to just drink your milk. I am looking forward to the introduction of some solids to your diet so that that would at least take the pressure off me being your sole source of food.

Also I’m hoping that the introduction of solids would help progress you towards sleeping through the night. This month, to my dismay, you discarded your rather manageable once a night wake-at-5am-drink-go-back-to-sleep routine and instead have been waking 2, sometimes 3 times a night, and needing more cuddling to get back to sleep. There were nights when you’d wake up when I put you down and I would need to start the routine all over again. Gah. I have since realised that it might have been the 4-Month Sleep Regression that you were going through but it has also made us re-double our efforts to get you sleeping well and for longer stretches. You now go down for the night consistently at 10.30pm and we’ve taken to swaddling your legs – “like a popiah”, I said to your Daddy – to minimise you kicking yourself awake. I also feed you in your sleep at midnight. So far it seems to be working. Or you could just be outgrowing the sleep regression. I don’t know. What I do know is that you are a baby who needs his sleep so please, help us all along and get some good rest.

When you’re awake however, you are generally a happy baby, willing to interact with everyone, though only as long as Mummy or Daddy is holding you. You’ve developed some stranger anxiety and would turn on the water works if taken out of our arms by someone unfamiliar. At least I know you won’t be whisked away willingly by some stranger! But don’t be afraid — the Aunties/Uncles who hover about you only want to carry you cos they love you a great deal. (Your Mum and Dad here could also use a good break.)

So we embark on your journey to being 6 months old, I’m told the changes start coming fast and furious. I’m looking forward to that. But as you grow, do me a favour and never lose that happy smile of yours.