Hi friends! Can y’all believe Shiloh will already be 5 months old tomorrow?! (I know, I know. I’m going to say that every month lol I’ve just accepted it). BUT SERIOUSLY people weren’t kidding when they say time goes by way too quickly. Today I wanted to share a little 5 month update on how she’s doing, what’s been challenging, what’s been amazing, what she’s loving, and all around what life has looked like for us this past month.
If you follow me on stories you know Shiloh is just smiling and chatting away these days! She is constantly cooing and talking and it is the cutest thing. This past month she’s become interested in toys for the first time. Well, that might be giving her a little too much credit haha. But she now is grabbing on to toys or if there is something hanging in front of her face she will reach for or hold onto it! [We have this toy bar that we clip onto the mamaroo or baby bjorn bouncy seat and she loves it!]. She still absolutely hates tummy time, but we try to do a few minutes of tummy time a few times a day, everyday. It’s so hard though bc she starts crying within minutes ha. We just bought this bumbo seat to try and work on her neck strength since she hates tummy time so much and it’s been really helpful! She’s not rolling over yet but I’m not worried about it!
We had two pretty big milestones this past month! The first – we dropped the swaddle!!! I really didn’t want to do this since she wasn’t rolling over yet – I didn’t see the point. But I’ve heard you should still drop the swaddle around 3 months because the longer you wait, the harder it will be to transition. Who knows if that’s actually true lol but I went with it. So we dropped the swaddle at about 4 1/2 months. You guys know I’m following Moms On Call so I used their method with the swaddle-dropping. [Every baby is different and this might not work for everyone. But it worked for us!]. I didn’t want to go from the swaddle, to something like the magic merlin suit, because we’d then just have to transition her out of that in the next few months. So, we just went cold turkey!
One night at bedtime, we just laid Shiloh down in her crib, without the swaddle [we use the Woolino sleep sack and LOVE it]. The first night was tough. She actually fell asleep within 20 minutes probably…but woke up 3 or 4 times throughout the night. She was never screaming…she was just kind of fussing. I watched her on the monitor [the entire night lol] and it looked like she just couldn’t get comfortable. Moms On Call really recommends you not go in there on that first night. Baby has to figure out how to get comfortable on their own…so let them figure it out. [Granted, if she would’ve been screaming, I don’t know that I could have done that haha even though I believe that it works].
So the first night she woke up off and on throughout the night and fussed. Second night, she woke up less. Third night, maybe just woke up once. And by night #4 she was back to sleeping through the night! It was amazing! We let her still sleep in the swaddle for naptime during this transition time. I wanted to make sure she was still getting SOME decent sleep. We dropped the swaddle for naptime once she was sleeping through the night without the swaddle! [Again, I realize this method doesn’t work for everyone. A lot of people swear by the magic merlin suit or just doing one arm out at a time during the transition period. Whatever works! But this method FOR SURE worked for us!]
The most trying part of this past month for us [if you follow me on stories, you probably already know!] was Shiloh went through a bit of a “nursing strike” phase. It started off with her not wanting to nurse during her last feeding of the day [at 8pm]. I’d sit down to nurse her just like always, and she would just start crying, push away, not latch. But then if I put a bottle in her mouth she would take it no problem. Well, little by little these ‘strikes’ were starting earlier and earlier in the day. It was so hard. I would try to calm her down, and do everything I could to get her to latch but she would just scream until I put a bottle in her mouth. I went and saw a lactation consultant and she couldn’t really figure it out either. I wasn’t doing anything differently, didn’t change anything…it was so random.
ANYWAY. I won’t go into too much detail here. But the ‘strike’ lasted around 10 days and it was so incredibly hard. I for sure started crying one day because I thought this meant our breastfeeding journey needed to end. But, I kept at it, kept trying to nurse her…and eventually, the strike just ended. I have no idea why, other than LOTS of prayers and patience and grace and consistency. Prior to this ‘strike’ I would top Shiloh off with a bottle for her last two feedings of the day – like 2oz of breastmilk in a bottle. I felt like my supply was low in the evenings and it made me worry. Now that we are through the strike…I actually don’t give her bottles at all anymore. [Unless michael and i are going out and she’s with a sitter or something…which is basically never lol]. My theory is…she’s a baby genius, and figured out that getting milk out of the bottle was so much easier. So she was starting to prefer that and getting lazy with nursing. Now that we’re not using bottles at all, I think she’s become a much more efficient nurser.
SORRY for that crazy long story haha I just wanted to update you guys because several of you have DM’d asking me how its going and letting me know you were praying. Which means THE WORLD to me…so I wanted to give you an update there! Things are great!
Other than that, I don’t think we have major updates around here! We’ve still been traveling a lot with Shiloh and she’s done great with it! [See this post for my tips on traveling with a baby]. Our pediatrician told us a lot of people start solids around 4 months…but Michael and I felt like that was really soon for Shiloh. So, we haven’t started solids yet! I’ll keep y’all posted when we do.
Shiloh is at such an amazing stage right now where she is still a tiny baby, but also smiling and interacting way more which has been so fun. I know people say every stage is so fun, but I find myself wanting to just freeze time ALL the time with her. Shiloh has so taught me what it means to live in the moment, and appreciate + soak in every single minute of every single day. This season is so sweet and so special, and I don’t want to miss one second of it.
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Outfit details: Similar kimono here and here | Lace cami | Denim shorts | Sole Society platform espadrilles | Sole Society round crossbody
Thanks for reading our little life update! Let me know if you guys have questions about anything in the comments below, and I’ll try and share any tips that I might have! Have a great week friends!
xo Lauren
