3-6 months - What’s next?

@benvi85 Sleep changes! My newborn could sleep anywhere at any time. Between 3-6 she stopped sleeping on the go (way too interested in what’s going on). She used to nap on and off until around 10pm when she’d sleep for the night—but then she started a self imposed bedtime of 7:30pm. It took a lot more work to get her to sleep; rocking her, dark room, sound machine, etc. We became very focused on how to get her to sleep and it took a lot of our day.

Your baby has a built in personality! Likes and dislikes will come out. Ours hated baths, the stroller, and the wind. She loved any electronic she could get her hands on (their hands will start doing what they want now), drooling, light up toys. The preferences change quickly too.
 
@rtuite So interesting! LOL about the wind! I’m scared of sleep changes. Feeling like we’re just getting that part kind of figured out 😅 How do you know when they are putting on a self imposed bedtime? Mine was around 9pm for while but now I feel like she’s done for the day around 8. Do we just change it and see what happens?! I guess so!
 
@benvi85 Yeah we thought we had a great sleeper and then the 4 month sleep regression rocked us. Instead of just going right back to sleep at night, she had to be rocked to sleep and gently put in the bassinet to not wake her up. And this was like 2-3 times a night.

For the self imposed bedtime, she basically stopped doing the 8pm wake window and was just powering down at 7. Even if she hadn’t been up long, she would get super fussy, start eating a ton, and falling asleep at 7:30. We had to rush to get through dinner because she was so ornery. So we decided ok fine she goes to bed then and she started going to sleep much faster.
 
@rtuite Omg this was us last night! I woke her up from a nap to get the last wake window but she juuuuust wanted to be asleep. So we did a quick feed and bedtime and she was OUT
 
@benvi85 Honestly, and in my experience I loved 3-6 months. You can still set them down on the floor to play. They aren’t crawling yet but rolling around is fun to see. They start with their cute little babbles and look like a baby rather than a freshly born. You get to see them get interested in new things like colors, books, textures. It is really a wonderful time in my opinion.
 
@benvi85 If breastfeeding, a very distracted baby! Feeds which took 5 mins before are stretched to 15 mins now. It goes like..
" Mommy! I am hungry.."

"Oh look! The dog is stretching."

"Mom!!! Hungry!"

"Oh hi dad! I haven't seen you since the last second!"

"HUNGRYYYYYY!!! *SMALL SCREAM"

"Oh hi dad! I haven't seen you since I last saw you just a second ago!"

"Mother! I am hungry and you shall provide your services this second "

"I am just gonna be distracted because I can"

Screams

"Let's just stop feeding to test mum's patience"

Feeds profusely for 2 mins - milk spraying EVERYWHERE

"Oh hi dad! smiles"

"OK mummy all done!"
 
@jparadise Omg forgot about this! Happened to me at 4 ish months and caused me so much stress and anxiety! The distracted phase will pass. She suddenly lost interest in feeding and went through phases of only wanting bottle unless she was sleepy. I was so concerned about her not getting enough! Try not to stress too much - they’re getting more efficient at eating and at least for us, the phase passes.
 
@jparadise Yeah first she’d stop nursing after a few minutes and want to play/engage with people around us… so we tried bottles and that worked til she decided she’d just play with the bottle too 😂 That wasn’t a fun couple weeks! I finally figured she’ll eat when she gets hungry and just tried feeding in a dark room whenever possible. Now she’s eating ok fortunately!
 
@benvi85 My baby just turned 5 months. I live in the US. Major things for months 3-4:
- return to work for me (birthing parent)
- starting daycare
- primarily pumping during weekdays due to the above
- baby is much more mobile. Not crawling but ability to roll really changes things - no more inert potato! Rolling causing major sleep regression for us.
- baby is much more expressive and interactive. For us this has meant more fun!! But also requires more present engagement since she is actually interested in having our attention
- baby is now interested in the dog… new chapter starting in their relationship
- haven’t started solids but getting ready to. Adding practice sitting to our daily routine, researching purees & BLW in preparation for doing a combo of the two, CPR / resuscitation class (and learning about choking vs gagging)
 
@fadi215 My baby also started showing interest in our dog! She’s 4 months old too and it’s hilarious to watch her try to get his attention. I think she just realized he’s another sentient being who can love her so she started yelling at him like he’s one of us. It’s so cute lol
 
@denispa Yes! My daughter kinda yanked our dogs ear yesterday and he was an angel about it but it still makes me nervous because you just never know. I recently found this girl on IG who teaches courses and shares info about safety for dogs and babies and it’s been super helpful.

https://www.dogmeetsbaby.expert
 
@goodgdlive Ohh yes I recently started following her! Super helpful! Definitely want to teach baby to respect our pup’s boundaries so she doesn’t get pushed over the edge!
 
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