Naps: one short nap in the morning, one long nap in the afternoon, one short nap in the evening

Feeding: breastfeeding four times during the day and once at night; bottle feeding breast milk once before bed

Clothing: 0-3 month, outgrowing 0-3 month sleepers

Bedtime: between 9 and 10 pm

Eating: Henry eats every 3 1/2 to 4 hours during the day. In the morning it is shorter, sometimes with only 2 1/2 hours between feedings. He seems to be more hungry from having gone so long between feedings overnight. In the late afternoon he will occasionally go 5 or more hours. His feeding schedule is generally 7:30 am, 10:30 am, 2:00 pm, and 5:30 pm.

At night he is able to go 5 to 6 hours between feedings. He usually starts his bottle at 8 pm and cluster feeds until bed at 9:45. He wakes in the middle of the night for his next feeding around 3:30 am.

Sleeping: Henry is still a top-notch sleeper at night. He usually falls asleep around 10 pm. Depending on how well he ate before bed, he will sleep until he wakes somewhere between 2:30 am and 4:00 am, but usually he is waking around 3:30 am. After this feeding, he will then sleep until he wakes between 7 and 8 am.

It has gotten increasingly difficult to get Henry down for his morning nap. He almost seems to have some sleep anxiety. He gets very frantic, which excites him and prevents him from calming down. This makes him even more tired which makes him more frantic…it’s a vicious cycle. Usually, once he does fall asleep, he only stays asleep for 45 minutes at the most before he wakes to be fed. I know going for a drive or putting him in his swing would put him to sleep almost instantly, but I’ve been holding back on doing this because we want to encourage healthy sleeping habits without the reliance on soothers.

With his very light sleep in the morning, Henry compensates by taking a very long nap with deep sleep in the afternoon. In a sense, it almost seems like he is splitting his day into 2 stretches of long, deep sleep–one in the afternoon and one overnight. He can get frantic before this nap, but it is nothing like it is in the morning.

His evening nap is again very short with light sleep. He has no problem relaxing for this nap as it is usually during our evening walk.

Development: Henry has started to use different cries to communicate things besides being hungry, angry, or uncomfortable. He has started to use a “wah” cry when he notices that he is alone in a room and start to feel lonely. It’s almost like a call to make sure we didn’t forget about him.

At the end of week 5 Henry found his tongue. He loves to move it around in his mouth and stick it out after he is done eating.

During week 7, we saw the emergence of consistent social smiles. We have been seeing fleeting smiles since birth, and occasional social smiles since week 4, but this was the week when they started to show on a regular basis. He smiles a lot after he has been fed. Adam had one night where Henry couldn’t eat well because his smile kept breaking his latch. Thankfully Henry wasn’t upset about it.

Along with the smiles came a series of coos and gurgles. Henry like chatting with us, or just with himself during playtime.

Henry is also getting more and more coordinated with his arms. He likes to swipe at objects hanging above him. Once he is successful at hitting the object once, he is pretty consistent with hitting it again and again. Sometimes, but not too often, Henry will “catch” the thing he is swiping at. The first time this happened he was very unsure of what had happened but now he shows a lot of pride when it happens. We also are now seeing Henry rub his eyes when he is tired.

He is able to support his head for longer periods of time, most of the time. He still needs support when he is tired, and needs to take breaks during playtime.

Likes and Dislikes: At the end of this month I introduced Henry to his play gym. It is THE BEST THING EVER to Henry. That first afternoon, he was all smiles and could barely contain himself as he swatted at the hanging toys, looked at the different pictures above him, and flirted with his reflection.

Speaking of his reflection, Henry loves to look at his French counterpart, Henri, in the mirror. He is especially entranced when my reflection shows up as well.

Henry enjoys having his legs rubbed as he is falling asleep. This is one of the sure-fire ways to get him to calm down when he is frantic, although sometimes it is only temporary. He also still loves to snuggle on your shoulder and look around as you walk.

Another sure-fire way to get Henry to calm down is to give him a shower. He loves the sound of the shower and bathroom fan, and has no problems with the water, even if it is splashing on his face.

Henry also enjoys going on walks in his stroller. He loves to look up through the peek-a-boo window in the canopy of the stroller and watch the trees. Actually, he is fascinated by the things above him like the trees and ceiling.

One of Henry’s greatest dislikes is being hot. There are days when he can’t sit in his bouncy seat because the fuzzy fabric gets too warm for him. He also gets hot in his car seat. Many shopping trips and road trips to visit grandparents have been paused so that he can get out of his car seat and cool off.

New This Month: Henry took his first trip to the zoo this month, although he slept through the whole visit.

We took Henry to the drive-in for the first time as well. He was awake the whole time while we were grilling and chatting before the movie started. He fell asleep just as the movie was starting and slept the whole time. It couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

Henry got his first round of vaccinations at the end of this month. He was a champ while getting his shots; he only cried for a minute afterwards. He was in some pain later in the day though. I got introduced to his cry for pain that day–absolutely heart-breaking. Thank goodness for some baby Tylenol!

Other Notes: We are continuing to perfect Henry’s bedtime routine. He seems to cycle through having a few easy nights and then a difficult night. We haven’t quite figured out what triggers his upset though. His bedtime does seem to be moving up closer to 9 pm rather than 10 pm which is nice for us to be able to have a some time together before we call it a night as well.

We’ll also be continuing to keep an eye on his napping schedule, and watching very closely for sleep signs so as to avoid the “cycle of rage”.

Mama and Papa Update: This month began with Adam needing to be away for a few days on a business trip to Seattle. It was difficult for both us. Henry was making a developmental leap at the time so he was especially cranky and clingy. The first night was particularly challenging during Henry’s bedtime routine. Adam missed Henry lots.

We are loving the new smiley side of Henry. It’s fun to be able to have a “conversation” of coos, gurgles and smiles with Henry.

This coming month we will be starting cloth diapering. We are both very excited to save money on diaper purchases, and to stop feeling so guilty about filling a landfill with yet another dirty diaper with each diaper change. A few weeks ago I was nervous and hesitant to switch because I had started growing accustomed to the convenience of disposables, but now I’m more than ready.