Weight: He won't be weighed again now until he has his hospital appointment in a couple of weeks.
Health: We've had a few eczema flare ups, bouts of diarrhoea/wind/tummy ache and his reflux seems to have worsened since we started weaning. The symptoms all seem to coincide with days where he had bread and banana. Yesterday we gave him some toast and made sure to avoid banana to see how he got on. He was very reflux-y, windy and uncomfortable for most of the evening and had a rash on his back. Then this morning had the biggest nappy explosion ever (OJ and I were both absolutely covered despite the fact that he was wearing a clean, dry nappy and 2 layers of clothing). However, his eczema doesn't seem to have flared up too much so we think that may be the banana and we're going to try that separately in a few days. We can't exclude any other foods until he's seen at the hospital so it's all just trial and error - it is also hard work because it might be something that I've given him that's aggravated his symptoms or it might be something that I've eaten. I'm desperately hoping we get some answers soon as it's horrible seeing him so uncomfortable. He may also be teething... he's constantly rubbing his gums frantically with anything he can find and just generally grumpy but no sign of any teeth near the surface yet (although it's hard to get a good look).
Feeding: He didn't seem to be getting on too well with the BLW, mostly because the foods were a bit soft and just ended up squashed in his hand so he couldn't get them in his face so I've been giving him harder foods (toast, pear, apple, butternut squash fries) which he's managed a lot better with. We've still been giving him a bit of spoon food (mashed potato, mashed banana, mashed avocado) but we load the spoon and hold it near his mouth for him to go for if he wants to. For a few days he was happy just moving forward to the spoon but then he decided he wanted to do it himself so now I just hand him the spoon and he's doing amazingly well (as you'll see from some of the pictures). It's incredibly messy and I'm pretty sure he eats very little of it but he's enjoying it and there's definitely at least a little bit going in so he's getting a taste for things, which is what counts.
Sleep: Sleep has difficult with his gastrointestinal symptoms but he's not been too bad on the whole. We had a couple of nights where we struggled to get him down at bedtime which we put down to teething but he was down before 10 pm so I can't complain really. Yesterday for the first time I put him in his crib in our room for all his naps with the baby monitor and cracked on with stuff around the house - it felt weird! He only slept for 30-40 minutes at a time so, despite not getting up until 10 am he was ready for bed by just after 7 pm and went down like a dream. He was up at 5:30 am this morning but that was quickly followed by the poop explosion so he was obviously uncomfortable. He fell asleep on the way home from the park at 11:45 this morning (after 2 catnaps earlier on) and is STILL asleep in his pushchair (it's now 13:40)! He seems to be capable of taking long naps in the pushchair or on me but less so in his crib, maybe he feels less secure, although he sleeps relatively well at night between feeds so who knows! Either way it's a work in progress but I'm really feeling more positive about it.
Routine: Currently I'm just trying to get him to nap in his crib and letting him decide when he's ready for a nap and it seems to be working. We do a similar thing with bedtime too. Otherwise we just go with the flow.
Likes/dislikes: He loves mashed potato and is really enjoying feeding himself with a spoon/his hands. He likes being chucked around and giving people kisses (whilst pulling their ears and/or hair). He doesn't like not being able to get at whatever he's set his sights on and is very frustrated that he's unable to move independently yet.
Firsts: First time succeeding at feeding himself with a spoon, first attempt at standing independently (supported by the sofa) and first naptime without mummy or daddy keeping a close watch (okay, so I had the monitor but that's different)!
Milestones: Our little boy is now SIX months old, he's been with us for half a year!! He's made it into size 3 nappies at last but that's probably about it for the milestones. Obviously all the new foods are little milestones but I won't bore you with everything he's tried. He might be in his 6-9 clothes before long too as he seems to be growing more by the day! He also had his last swimming lesson in the "Floaties" class and will be moving into "Splashers" the week after next (no swimming next week because it's a bank holiday).
Things we did: We spent Saturday at a powerlifting competition and I'm amazed how well OJ coped; we were there for 9 hours and he was brilliant. ALS was competing but I had some support from the in-laws, which was invaluable considering there were no chairs so I was either standing with OJ or sat on the floor with him! OJ and I have been for a walk every day for the last 3 days as the weather has been perfect - not too hot but not windy or rainy either - and it's been nice to just get out of the house for a few hours.
Me: I'm feeling a little healthier in myself and my cold finally seems to be disappearing. However, I'm still finding it hard with OJ as he's been really grizzly for a couple of weeks now (between weaning issues, growth spurt, frustration at not being on the move and possible teething) so it's been hard work keeping him entertained and happy. I'm also really struggling with weaning. It's impossible to cook with him around so I have to make sure it's all batch prepared at the week and any quick foods, such as toast or a sandwich, contain bread and he's been having tummy troubles when eating them. Trying to find healthy recipes that don't contain dairy is hard enough without having to avoid anything else - especially as you often can't substitute with dairy-free cheese in cooking because it doesn't melt well! It's also time consuming (and expensive) having to make all your own stuff e.g. pasta sauces because shop bought ones are too salty. My other issue is that I'm quite a fussy eater and ALS eats a pretty strict training diet (and eats the same stuff every day) but I don't want that to be the case for OJ so I'm having to buy things for him especially, but they don't come in small enough quantities so, especially fresh stuff, ends up going to waste. I'm trying to broaden my horizons with him but there's some stuff I just can't stomach. I'm going to ask for a Dietician referral when we see the Paediatrician and hopefully they will be able to help with meal ideas for him that are easy enough to cook in bulk etc. I'm sure I'm complaining about stuff that other mothers have been dealing with for years but it's all a bit overwhelming in the beginning and it's hard work trying to figure out which foods upset his stomach (plus we aren't allowed to exclude anything other than cow's milk until we've seen the doctor so it's not helping his mood). It's not something I can speak to my mummy friends about because they are either weaning their children on baby jars or just give them whatever they eat regardless of salt/sugar content so would just tell me to do that but I really want to give him nutritious, home cooked food as much as possible. Plus I don't know anyone else in person who has done baby-led weaning, although Instagram has been great for ideas! Wow... I'm waffling.
25 weeks 1 day - practicing standing against the sofa!
25 weeks 2 days - after I tried to get him up early for the powerlifting competition.
25 weeks 2 days - chilling at the competition, his vest has his name and the hashtag for our powerlifting team on it which is adorable.
25 weeks 3 days - he's a bit of a pear addict.
25 weeks 4 days - loves a bit of apple!
25 weeks 4 days - Superbaby!
25 weeks 4 days - trying to take a selfie/eat the camera.
25 weeks 4 days - never too old to have snuggles and a nap on mummy's chest.
25 weeks 4 days - baby loves Pointless, which is great because mummy loves Pointless too AND it's educational (I've learned more on my maternity leave from watching Pointless than I did in school)!
25 weeks 5 days - absolutely nailing spoon feeding himself, what a proud mummy moment!
25 weeks 6 days - 6 month growth photo.
25 weeks 6 days - growth photo outtakes... he was feeling particularly chompy and poor Mr Bear got the brunt of it!
25 weeks 6 days - butternut crinkle fries, these were amazing and I was a little reluctant to share!
25 weeks 6 days - his teeth seem to be bothering him so we've been giving him frozen chunks of pear in his ClevaMama feeder and he LOVES it, plus it keeps him entertained for a while. We love the silicone feeder as it's much easier to clean than the net ones.
26 weeks - nothing exciting happening here but I just love his squishy little face, I could just eat him up!
26 weeks - he was more interested in eating his own hand than the swing apparently.
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