Naps: We seem to have mostly gotten naps back on track. Resetting his schedule seemed to solve most of the issues we were having. Henry even started to take decent naps before dinner in the evening which was always a nap we struggled with. There was a little bit of guesswork that we had to do with this schedule reset in order to find when Henry was ready to go down for a nap.

Another thing that seemed to help Henry sleep better and longer during naps was a change in my diet. I began reducing the amount of dairy in my diet at the beginning of this month, and then eliminated dairy completely. I decided to do this for reasons unrelated to Henry’s sleep (see below), but an improvement in sleep seems to be a secondary effect.

Henry is now taking three naps a day. He takes his morning nap around 8:30am, another around 12:30pm, and his last nap around 4 or 4:30pm. He sometimes struggles with napping longer than 35-45 minutes. Most of the time I can comfort him by rubbing his legs and he will go back to sleep. Henry is most rested if he can nap for 70 minutes.

Feeding: Henry still gets breastmilk as his primary source of nutrition. He breastfeeds three times per day and gets a bottle of breast milk at bedtime. His feedings are 4 hours apart, and typically at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm.

Clothing: 9 months

Bedtime: 7:45-8:15pm

Eating: We started solids with Henry at the end of this month. His first food was avocado and he also tried butternut squash before the end of the month. We’ve been taking it slow and skipped cereal for now per doctor’s orders because it seems like Henry might have a some intolerances to certain foods. We’re sticking with foods that have low allergy risks for now.

Henry eats solids at 10am, 2pm, and 5:30pm.

Sleeping: Henry continues to sleep through the night. He will occasionally wake briefly before we go to bed at night but he will go back to sleep within 10 minutes once we comfort him.

We started using a Zippadeezip to help Henry transition away from a swaddle. We do still use a muslin blanket to provide a little more pressure (and also warmth) around his torso. He now goes to sleep with one arm unwrapped and often wiggles his arm free by morning. He doesn’t get as restless in the early morning hours as he used to so it seems like he is still looking for some security as he is falling asleep but doesn’t need that security to stay asleep.

Henry has a great internal clock. He wakes every morning at 6:10am regardless of when he goes to bed. He blows raspberries and sings to us until I get up to feed him around 6:45am.

Development: It took Henry most of month to re-learn rolling from front to back but we finally got there. He still gets stuck with arm placement on occasion but it’s improving everyday.

When Henry is awake enough or not distracted, he will pull the bottle towards himself and hold his bottle on his own. He needs help angling it when the bottle is mostly empty.

Henry likes to explore objects with his mouth. His favorite things to put in his mouth are squishy or plush fabrics, and his fingers.

Likes and Dislikes: One of Henry’s consistent dislikes is putting on his shirt. He does not like the stage where his shirt is around his neck and he has to fit his arms through the sleeves.

Toys that make noise are becoming more of an interest of Henry’s. Before he couldn’t care less if they made a sound or not. He has now figured out the musical toys on his gym and exersaucer. Crinkly and jingly stuffed toys are also favorites of his.

Every night we read the same three books to Henry at bedtime, in the same order. The first book, Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton, is our “get all you sillies and wiggles out” book. We tickle, rub, and rock him from side to side as we read the book. Henry anticipates all of this silliness, and laughs and giggles while we read the book to him. I think it might be the favorite part of bedtime for all of us.

New This Month: This month Henry celebrated his first Thanksgiving. We celebrated with both sides of the family including three of Henry’s four great-grandparents. Henry also got to meet some extended family members that live on the east and west coasts.

We took Henry to the new Holidazzle Market in downtown Minneapolis with Adam’s parents and Azure. Even though it was a relatively nice day (temperatures in the 30s) and Henry was bundled up in his snowsuit, Henry’s feet were pretty chilly by the end of our visit.

As mentioned above, Henry started eating solids this month. He took to solids really quickly and eagerly ate what we offered him.

Other Notes: I started reducing the amount of dairy in my diet and by the end of the month had completely eliminated dairy. Without being too graphic, Henry had started to have very mucus-y poos — a sign of a milk protein intolerance. We also began to wonder if Henry’s persistent skin rashes were linked to this as well. Once the milk proteins had been cleared from my body and Henry’s, we started seeing more normal poos and some clearing in the skin on his cheeks.

Just as Henry’s cheeks were beginning to clear, Henry started getting a full-body rash which was later diagnosed as eczema. We got a prescription for a more powerful hydrocortisone to calm the flare-up. We now lotion Henry from head to toe twice a day and use hydrocortisone and Aquaphor as needed.

We also finally got Henry’s cradle cap to clear up once we started using the hydrocortisone and Aquaphor.

Mama and Papa Update: Up to this point I’ve been telling myself that there are certain things I don’t need to worry about until Henry gets to be six months old. I can’t believe we’re already at this point. Time has flown by. Adam and I have to start getting serious about things like using baby signs and baby-proofing our house.