If your baby is like most at this age, he's showing signs of separation anxiety. Far from being a cause for concern, stranger anxiety is a sign of your baby's growing understanding of the world around him. Earlier, when you left the room, your baby was hardly phased. Now he knows that you're gone — and he's able to picture you and miss you — and may begin to cry as soon as you're out of his sight. Your baby's reluctance to be separated from you may delight you or just plain frustrate you at times. If you head out to do an errand and your baby's staying home, shower him with loads of hugs and kisses before you head out the door and tell him you'll be back shortly. He won't understand that you'll be returning in an hour, but the love and affection might comfort him and tide him over until he sees you again. Also, try to have a ritual of leaving that he can rely on each time you go and leave him with someone he's familiar with. That way, if he can't have Mom or Dad, at least he'll feel happy with his temporary caretaker. Note: Even if your baby has been sleeping soundly through the night, he may now wake up periodically if he's experiencing separation anxiety — the two seem to be connected.
Teething can start as early as 3 months or as late as 12 months, but most babies sprout their first white caps (typically the two middle teeth on the bottom) between 4 and 7 months of age. Don't be alarmed if your baby has gaps between his pearly whites. Teeth often come up through the gums at odd angles, and spaces commonly disappear by age 3, after all 20 baby teeth have broken through. Once your baby starts teething, you can expect more drooling and experimenting with sounds as he adjusts to having these strange new things in his mouth. To ease your baby's discomfort, give him something to chew on, such as a firm rubber teething ring or a cold washcloth. He may also get some relief from eating cold foods such as applesauce or yogurt (if he's eating solids) as the cold may temporarily numb the pain. Giving a baby a hard, unsweetened teething cracker to gnaw on is another time-honored trick. You can also try rubbing your finger over his sore gums or applying an oral pain relief gel.
Teething can start as early as 3 months or as late as 12 months, but most babies sprout their first white caps (typically the two middle teeth on the bottom) between 4 and 7 months of age. Don't be alarmed if your baby has gaps between his pearly whites. Teeth often come up through the gums at odd angles, and spaces commonly disappear by age 3, after all 20 baby teeth have broken through. Once your baby starts teething, you can expect more drooling and experimenting with sounds as he adjusts to having these strange new things in his mouth. To ease your baby's discomfort, give him something to chew on, such as a firm rubber teething ring or a cold washcloth. He may also get some relief from eating cold foods such as applesauce or yogurt (if he's eating solids) as the cold may temporarily numb the pain. Giving a baby a hard, unsweetened teething cracker to gnaw on is another time-honored trick. You can also try rubbing your finger over his sore gums or applying an oral pain relief gel.
This has been another big week for our little guy, who is growing up WAY too quickly. He hasn't been crawling much this week, and now seems to be more interested in trying to climb on the couch and coffee table and use anything he can to try to pull himself up to standing. He's able to hold on to a stationary object, pull himself up, and stand (still holding on) for a minute or so.
One of his lower teeth has started to pop it's way out of his gums also.
For the last few days in a row Noah has gone back to sleeping through the night like he used to, and I'm hoping that his waking up was just a result of his tooth coming through. He has started to really fight naps now and it takes all but a straight jacket and a small army to hold him down until he finally stops trying to sit up and allows himself to fall asleep.
We have now successfully added tofu, peas, homemade brown rice cereal, and egg yolks into his diet. He nurses 6 times a day, with a solid food feeding at his second, and then third to last feedings. For breakfast he eats 2 Tbsp of some form of grain cereal, mixed with one protein (an egg yolk, or 1 Tbsp pureed tofu alternated every other day), and 1 Tbsp of vegetable (alternating peas and carrots every other day). Then for lunch/ afternoon he eats 1/4 c yogurt mixed with a fruit (usually 1/2 a banana, pear, or avocado). Within the next week or two (after he turns 7 months old) I think we'll start dropping his nursings down to 5 a day, and initiate 3 solid food meals a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He is starting to get the hang of drinking and sucking out of his sippy cup. When I hold it for him he'll usually drink for a little while, but he's a little lazy about holding it for himself as of now. I also tried some cut up banana as a finger food one day this week, when I would place a chunk in his mouth he would mash it with his gums and swallow. After getting the hang of that I could pass him a chunk from my hand to his and he would put it in his mouth and eat it. However he never quite got the idea or desire to pick the chunks off of his tray himself to eat them. I think the introduction of regular solid food meals has started to bulk up our little one, he's starting to develop cute little fat rolls in places where they didn't exist previously.
I don't think that Noah is showing any signs of separation or stranger anxiety at this point.
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