This month has seen some major milestones in our little boys life, with two very exciting developments:
No. 1.
Yep, that's right! John now has two little teeth! The first one appeared on the 20th December, with the second one cutting through the next day. He looks so cute with his little teefers (as we like to call them). He's such a big boy now! PS. Sorry for the bluriness of the photo, it's the best I could do with a such a wiggly worm for a son.
No. 2.
We have started John on solids which for me is really fun (although I hear the excitement wears off pretty quick and it turns into just another thing to do, but for now, I love it).
As you can see, I'm not giving him any puree's or spoon-feeding. I had resisted feeding John solids (puree's) before 6 months as I really wanted him to have the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding up to then. One of the additional benefits of waiting til 6 months to introduce solids is that we can skip the whole puree thing altogether. This is because his co-ordination is developed enough that he can start feeding himself, and he is interested in learning how to chew (instead of just sucking or swallowing). This type of eating is called 'Baby Led Weaning' or BLW for short.
 |
| Avocado, mango and brocolli day - what a mess! |
 |
| A gnawed up piece of apple |
From all the reading I have done, the truth is he doesn't really need to eat much (if any) solid food at all just yet. Yes, at 6 months a baby does need need more nutrients than he can get from breastmilk alone, however, the need is very small and grows quite slowly - it develops about the same pace as his skill at getting food into his mouth and his body's ability to cope with it - so there is no reason to rush the introduction of solids. John does have a store of nutrients he can draw on while he is learning to eat real food, the six month mark is only the point where most babies begin to need extra nutrients (they still have their full store or nutrients from birth at this stage - they haven't even started drawing on them yet) so the first couple of months of BLW is about exploring food - learning about different textures, shapes and sizes, and developing those chewing skills, eventually learning how to push food back in his mouth and then eventually swallowing it. So, by the time John actually needs to eat more (between about nine months and a year) he will be able to feed himself a wide variety of foods, and his eating will become more purposeful. In the meantime, we will just keep breastfeeding as normal.
I could go on and on about BLW, but I won't just now, only to say that it is just a philosophy about introducing solids that really resonates with me. Every mother has to adopt an approach that they feel comfortable with, and this approach may not suit everyone, but it is one that I really want to give a go, so yep, we are trying it :)
Other milestones for John this month:
John is still rolling absolutely everywhere. He has learned how to roll over and around things, often extricating himself from his playmat bars, and navigating through the gap between the couch and rocker chair, or over to the Christmas tree. He can turn himself on his tummy and his back to change direction. He still gets stuck sometimes (like this time where he had rolled himself way under the couch).
John is able to fully stretch his arms when lying on his tummy, and lift his upper half of his body off the ground, but he still hasn't worked out how to crawl yet. If he is on his tummy when he gets excited (i.e. if Daddy comes into the room) he'll lift his hands and legs off the ground and kick his legs like crazy - it looks like he's trying to swim. He can lift his bottom off the ground, but often ends up just rolling over rather than being able to push himself forward. When he is on the tiles he can push himself backwards.
He can sit up straight when leaning against something (like me if he is on my lap, or when he is the high chair, on the couch or the rocking chair in the mother's room at church).
He can pretty much grab anything he wants, and can manouvre himself to get what he wants. For example, one morning he rolled over to the book I had left on the floor on the other side of the room, and then, before I could stop him, he had pulled out the sheet of paper I had been using as my bookmark (thanks sweetheart, now I've lost my place!). Seriously though, he is a clever boy and I'm proud of him. He can also move objects he's grabbed from one hand to the other. If he drops things, he can pick them back up, even without looking at them. A few days ago, he dropped one of his toys when he was lying on the bed. He had dropped it up next to his head, so he couldn't quite reach it with his arms while he was lying on his back, so what did our clever boy do? He rolled over onto his tummy, picked it up in his mouth, rolled back onto his back and took it out his mouth with his hands. Clever, clever boy!
He loves to play with chip packets (loves that crinkley sound) and boxes. We also gave him cold carrots to munch on when he was teething.
He likes to touch faces a lot now. He'll pat my face and pull on my lips and hair while nursing now. He also loves Daddy's facial hair too. If he grabs your hand he will try and pull it into his mouth too.
He has started trying to blow raspberries with his mouth - its a feeble attempt at the moment, but so so cute.
He can eat his toes!
He really enjoys story time. John bought him a particular book for Christmas which includes a lot of animal noises as part of the story - this gets him giggling and gurgling and cooing every single time. It's adorable. He likes to hold the books after we have finished reading.
He can understand what some toys do. For example, he knows that the piano Grandma gave him for Christmas makes music if you press the buttons. He likes to do this both with his hands, but also with his feet :)
He also enjoys the extra room in his cot (compared to his bassinet at home). I often find him in weird positions when I go to pick him up after a sleep (sometimes he's even on his tummy trying to crawl).
He is also getting stronger, and will just roll straight over the bars on his playmat so that the whole thing collapses on top of him - he'll then play with it while it's lying on top of him. Crazy kid.
And...he just continues to be cute:
