Kieran 5 Months

Height: 25.25 inches

 

Weight: 12 pounds, 14 ounces 

 

Head circumference: 17 inches

 

Clothing: We're starting to put away his 0-3 month clothes, especially his pajamas with feet because he's too tall for them, even though he hasn't outgrown them in the waist. He only has a few 3-6 month PJs, so we may have to break out the 6 month size soon.

 

Still loving our cloth diapers. We've started having to increase the rise setting in his overnight diapers because we've had to add extra absorbency and it makes his diapers too bulky.

 

Nicknames: Chubby Cheekers, Bubba, Bubster, Mister Man, Grumpy Gills when he's super fussy.

 

Food: Kieran is officially a breastfed and formula fed baby. After battling last month with his weight gain, his doctor suggested we start supplementing with formula. I was really against it and asked if we could supplement with solid food instead, which she agreed to. However, after talking to a lactation consultant who told me that starting solids before 6 months could lead to food allergies, we decided to use formula. As of right now, he gets two 5 ounce bottles - around 11 am and 3 pm - and one bottle before bed. We have just started making his bedtime bottle a hefty 8 ounces and adding a bit of oatmeal to hopefully keep him full overnight. He gained 1lb, 3oz in two weeks once we started supplementing. 

 

Our feeding schedule looks roughly like this:

7-7:30 am - Kieran wakes up and nurses

10 ish - nurse at work

11-noon - bottle

1ish - nurse at work

2-3 - bottle

4:30-5 - nurse

6:30ish- nurse

7:30-8:30 - big bottle and nurse down for bed

8:30-7:30 - he'll wake up and nurse anywhere from once to four times overnight

 

Sleep: Sleep started getting better once we realized he was waking up so much because he was hungry. I still can't say that he's sleeping through the night because we have good and bad nights. He usually goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 and will wake up anywhere between one and 4 times a night. I always go in a nurse him, and he falls back asleep quickly.

 

Naps: I can confidently say that we have a nap schedule now. He'll fall asleep between 10 and noon, between 2 and 4, and usually on the drive home. We still struggle to get him to nap at home on the weekends, and we think it's because Keegan is home which is new and different to him. At work, he'll normally sleep at least an hour, but at home, we struggle to get longer than half an hour.

 

Milestones & Tidbits:

- K read Kieran "The Night Before Christmas" for the first time

- had his first Christmas and New Years! We spent Christmas morning with my side of the family and Kieran got passed around to each family member who helped him open a present. He was surprisingly good at ripping the paper, but often tried to eat it. We then drove down to K's parents and did Christmas night with them.

- Met his "uncle" Brendan for the first time (K's best friend) 

- he's noticing facial features more. When he's nursing, he'll reach up and try to touch my eyes which has resulted in a lot of eye pokes.

- He's also started playing with his feet while he nurses. It's cute until he looses grip and I get a foot to the chin.

- He's found my hair and LOVES to pull it.

- He's starting to notice our cats. He'll track them when they run across the house, watch them intently when they hop up on the couch to cuddle with us, and loves to pet them. We're already starting the "no, don't pull Mika's ear. Be gentle when you pet her" dialogue.

- He's babbling up a storm. I know his babbles don't mean anything, but I've definitely heard "mama" a few times. He's also found his love of shrieking.

- He has taken to pulling and putting the nursing cover in his mouth. Many times I've had to make a quick catch of the cover before I flash everyone around me.

- Kieran loves my dad's beard.

- Kieran "made" his grandparents and aunts artwork for Christmas

- Mizzou went to the Citrus Bowl on January 1, so we all dressed in our Tigers gear 

- He's using his pacifier less and less. He'll fall asleep with it in, but let it fall out within seconds. He'll also take it out and try to put it back in his mouth, but 9 times out of 10, he starts sucking on the side.

- We watched him take his pacifier out of his mouth and toss it across his crib one night, which meant I couldn't find it when I went in to console him, so we got a pacifier clip and attached it to his sleep sack.

Likes: eating, bath time, lights, people watching, sitting and looking at the world, LOVES his blanket.

 

Dislikes: being cold, being in the car seat for long periods of time, especially if it's not moving.

 

He fell asleep with his fingers in the sign language "I Love You"