6 month stats
Weight 16 lbs 3 oz (24th percentile)
Length 26.5 inches (44th percentile)
Sam has dropped from the 90s percentile where he was born and has been hanging in the 20s the last few ped visits. Dr. Z told us today that she is very happy with his weight and thinks the drop was him just finding his family curve (since we don't have any giant folks really in our family). I'm so grateful, because of course I was worried I wasn't making enough milk and that's why he was dropping... But now I know we're looking good!
Nursing
As mentioned above, I have been nervous this month that my supply wasn't adequate for sweet Samuel, and we had a few weight check visits with Dr. Z. He is almost always content while nursing and after he finishes. He has stretched nursing sessions out to every 3-4 hours during the day (one day he went 5.5 hours and that was crazy!) and sleeps all night from 7pm-7am without nursing at all (most nights). But with his weight dropping so many percentile points, I was just sure it was due to my IGT. So, I started pumping once or twice every day to stimulate some extra production, and started taking Fenugreek (which worked really well for me to max out my possible supply with James until he quit nursing altogether somewhere around Samuel's age). I'm also building up a nice little freezer stash for when Stuart and I head to the mountains without the boys for a whole weekend coming up in March (these past 3 months have been a doozy, so we are so overdue). Anyways, breast feeding is going so well, and with Dr. Z's blessing on Samuel's weight, I hope to just carry on without the anxiety I've been holding on to! I'm so grateful.
Solids
We started solids, and this boy loves to eat! I haven't given him anything that he wouldn't eat. He is still warming up to the texture of oatmeal (whole rolled oats ground into flour and then made into warm cereal), but he always eats all of whatever I offer him (recently that has been up to 2/3 cup of puree at a time!). I'm trying something different than what I did with James, and that is to mix a little bit of fat into each food serving (so far it's either avocado, organic ghee or virgin coconut oil). It makes sense that breast milk is high in fat, and babies need that! I read this article on adding fat to baby foods, and with the encouragement of our pediatrician, that's what we've done! His favorite foods are banana and avocado so far, but truly he seems to enjoy everything (even green beans!).
Motor development
We've been doing some sitting practice with the Boppy. He can sit for a minute or two on his own, totally unsupported, before he topples over. He easily sits in the Bumbo for a while (which was helpful when we started solids!). Sam grabs at toys all the time with both hands, and usually they go directly in his mouth. Though, if not in his mouth, he bangs the toys around on the floor or on himself. He rolls over with ease, but is content to just lay in one spot and observe whatever is going on around him.
Sleep
Naps are still all over the place for little Sam. His wake time isn't really consistent, either. I suspect this is largely due to how inconsistent I am with a daily routine for him - it's impossible if I also choose to do things like go to the grocery, library, Bible study or church. Ha! This is largely because Samuel usually ends up awake for a large portion of James' single afternoon nap*, napping both right before and right after James' nap, so that's a huge chunk of time from lunch to dinner that we tend to stay at home. Right now, Samuel is usually happiest if he is awake for about 1 hour first thing in the morning, and then goes down for nap #1. This is odd to me, because when James was this age (or even a little younger), he was happy to be awake 2ish hours for all wake times! But Sam really naps the best all day if that first wake time is shortened to 1 hour. His first nap is often 2 hours, and then he'll alternate 2 hour wake times with 1.5 hour naps for the rest of the day. Most days he'll end up with 3 naps, though sometimes it is only 2 naps if we are out doing a lot of things all morning (like Sundays with church or Mondays with my Side by Side Bible study), or 4 naps if naps are overall on the shorter side in length.
*I was always afraid of this possibility - the baby being awake during the one time of day that James is asleep, when I am used to having the little bit of quiet downtime to myself that I desperately need to survive the evening hours (introverts unite!). However, I don't know if it's due to Samuel's laid back personality, or if he's just still so young and not that needy over all, but I sort of love that he is awake while James sleeps! It's truly the only one-on-one time I get with him, and it also gives me one-on-one time with James right before and after his nap, because that's when Samuel naps. So, as it is now, I like the way this has worked out, though it does confine us to home all afternoon!
We like you, Samuel! Happy half-birthday to our littlest boy (and happy actual birthday to our best friend Ezra)!
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