Tala is five months old. Yay!
Can I confess that this has seemed like the longest month so far? It’s because Tala has gotten really active (as you can tell from the pic above)! I was spoiled in her newborn days when she slept like a champion, leaving me with long, blissful stretches of time to myself—to rest and recover from the birth, but also to get a lot of things done.
Now that I’m back to my old self (plus a few kilos), Tala has decreed that there will be no more of that. Our days are filled with long stretches of awake time… and she’s decided she likes active playtime! Sometimes she will be content to play by herself on a sheepskin or in the playpen. But it’s not long until she cries and demands something more physically engaging. Even when we’re out and she’s lying in the bassinet of her stroller, she gets impatient and demands to be carried upright.
Play! Play! Play!
Notorious walk-hater that I am, I’ve started taking her on long walks at least three times a week. I’ve also come up with a few funny games to get her moving and make her laugh. She giggles like mad when I pull up her arms and sniff her armpits—it must be the strange genetic Filipino obsession with armpits kicking in. It helps that the Filipino word for armpit sounds funny too. Kili-kili!
The kili-kili game. Sorry for the image quality, this is a screenshot from video.
As a mom, I think I’m fairly calm and easygoing. But this month, I’ve gotten to the point where things start to get confusing, and anxiety has crept into my life. Should she be sleeping through the night and am I doing something wrong because she isn’t? Is two bottles of formula a day too many? Should I start introducing solid food or wait until six months as per official advise from the World Health Organization? Is starting solids really the best thing for her or do I only want to do it to be free from breastfeeding?
Executive decision: food is only for playing, not for eating. For now.
Everyone will say “trust your mother’s instincts,” but it’s easier said than done. My motherly instincts need time to be shaped, tested and trusted. I’m sure I’m not the only new mom who looks around at other mothers and babies to see how they do things… which can get even more confusing. Let’s not even get started on all the information you can drown in on the Internet.
So many decisions and questions. And I know this is only the beginning!
Sounds challenging, Deepa! But I’m sure you’ll find a way to cope with all the decision making and questions you have. Bisous! (oh and in Dutch when you tickle a baby you can say kiele kiele (after “kietelen”)… sounds almost like kili kili!!!)
Haha that’s so funny! So we’re teaching her Filipino and Dutch at the same time!
I feel you! And I want to slap people who ask me if she’s sleeping through the night already!
Have you read French Children Don’t Throw Food (also published as Bringing Up Bebe)? It’s an American mom in Paris’ observations on French parenting. I think it would be an interesting read for you, especially since Gabrielle is half French. Apparently, French babies sleep through the night at 2-3 months!
All French women I know says not true. Especially if you are breastfeeding since breast milk is digested easily. Around 6 to 9 months is more realistic due to eating of solids and a more mature gut that keeps them full at night. Plus I believe that with a little help and encouragement from us parents, babies will develop good sleep habits on their own the same way they learn how to crawl, walk and talk.
Your daughter is uber-cute. She looks like she’s always looking for action. What a happy baby!
That’s a pretty accurate description. Yeah, we’re really lucky that she’s a happy baby. The next one will probably be a holy terror!
And so sweet! Don’t worry. That stupid “does she sleep though?” question is the most annoying thing ever. I think it’s the most lied about issue when it comes to babies and toddlers – as if you get a gold medal as a mother when your baby sleeps through early. Most of them sleep through very late (at least from what I’ve experienced and seen) because that’s just a trained habit of our industrialized and scheduled adult world and not what a baby, even a toddler, would – normally, naturally do. One thing that helped me: no clock in the bedroom that I can see from the bed. I don’t want to know when and how often I wake up. That doesn’t help or change anything and helped me relax, too.
We don’t have a clock in the bedroom either. But I end up checking my phone a lot, since I keep it underneath my pillow. I know by now anyway that I end up waking just once, twice at most at night. It could be worse!
Ok, I cant relate to you problems coz i’m not a mom so I can’t give you advice. All I gotta say is that YOUR DAUGHTER IS SOOOOOOO FREAKING CUTE! OMG! Love her eyes. I bet it’ll be hard to say no to her with those eyes.
Haha thank you! Non-advice is much appreciated too!
OMG Tala is soooo adorable!
About the mom anxiety, hang in there Deepa! Much love from here
You just make the decision that feels right for you. I waited out the 6 months to the day before I attempted solids when every single baby we knew got started closer to 4 months old. Nobody listened to the pediatrrician’s advice and it seemed everyone turned out fine. However, most kids we know here are raised by grandparents during the day because the parents can’t give up their jobs (thank those fab maternity laws in the US that offer nothing) so it seems the parents have little control over what their own mothers would give the grandkids when home with them. Take for example one friend who came home to her mother (child’s grandmother) giving her 4 month old green tea at the dinner table.
I generally don’t ask questions about whether kids sleep through the night. All babies are different. We got lucky that ours did so beginning at 2.5 months but the annoying part was that she would only do this if tucked into the car seat. That beautiful crib that we spent good money on became a $400 changing table. Once she outgrew the car seat, we just bought her a bed. As in a real adult bed. You do what you gotta do to get some sleep, no?
Just out of curiosity, are you using washable or disposable diapers? (Yet another personal choice. No judgment here but I’m curious about which ones you like, whether disposable or cloth).
I’ve had total strangers come up to me and ask how she’s sleeping! That’s the frank and blunt Dutch for you.
I agree, you do what you need to do to get sleep. We swaddled her, which worked really well, and she always slept soundly after feeding. But (maybe this is just me) I’ve read too much literature, including the car seat manufacturers’ safety instructions, to not be comfortable leaving Tala in the car seat overnight. Even on a long drive you need to stop every two hours or so to take them out.
We use cloth diapers at home during the day, disposables some nights and when we go out.
I totally don’t recommend having them sleeping overnight in the car seat
hahaha! You’d have to take them out periodically to check the diaper anyway. A major leak (or worse, a number two explosion) in the car seat is not something you’d want to deal with especially during a long drive. For our next baby, I’m determined to not have to resort to the car seat setup. But I’m not going to bother with a new crib. A pack n play is all I intend to set up and if she hates it, I’ll just have to stay up all night hahaha! Although I do admit, my daughter loved her carseat so much that to this day, she does tremendously well on road trips. A drive to Canada or to Florida has never been an issue (we’re talking 16 hours each way).
Oh that’s right! Congratulations on the new baby! When is he/she due?
One of our goals is to do a long drive when Tala is a bit older, to France or maybe Italy. But there will be lots of pit stops along the way for sure, and we’ll probably stretch the drive over a couple of days.
Thanks. Just a month away! Couldn’t come any sooner though. I can barely move around these days. A drive to France or Italy sounds fantastic! Here, there isnt much of a view to enjoy since we do most of our drives on highways which are long stretches of boring. But your drive should be much more fascinating… frequent stops or not
Awwwww, she is absolutely adorable!
I’m always fascinated to know how parents refrain from eating their babies alive:-))
Happy 5 months Tala (could you not have waited for another month??) Haha!
It’s very tempting indeed, especially when they are having a meltdown and you think “Hmm, actually eating her alive could give me a moment’s peace and quiet!”
I love the name of your baby “Tala” though you are distance away from Pinas Pinoy na Pinoy pa din.
And yes when my kids are younger I also love the kilikili kiss hehehehehhe
Thanks for dropping by, Cielo! Ano bang meron ang kili-kili?! Haha!
I’m just an email away if you have ANY question.
TALA IS SO CUUUUUUUTE. Love that banana shot!
Thanks so much Toni. Will keep that in mind. Laki na ni Timmy!