Random Thoughts: 6 months

Moving into week 24 (5 1/2 months, not 6 - again, bad math!) ...

Life is good!

Our Girl is happy and rested and on the brink of starting solids, which sounds fun, but I'm sure I'll miss the simplicity of just nursing.

I feel like our life is back to normal. Not the old normal, mind you, but a new normal that is really nice.

Only a few pounds of babyweight still linger, which I am very thankful for. Things certainly are not in the places they used to be, but I just didn't know what to expect and have been pleasantly surprised.

I had really hoped to breastfeed/pump for the first 6 months, and now that we are there, I don't really see any reason to stop. It is easy, inexpensive, and nice cuddle time. I already have wisps of sadness when I watch her nurse and realize that it won't last forever.

Pumping is still going well and it's a lot better to only pump twice at work. I haven't had any problems with my supply. I have noticed that the total amount I pump during the day is slowly decreasing (at a high of 21oz. at work, now more like 17oz.), but I still pump more during the day than she needs for bottles. I think it is probably due to drinking less fluids at work and being more active.

Just one more thing on sleeping (yeah, right!) ... This is a little chart that my very wise friend sent me and it's great for reference. (Seriously, she is on my speed dial for Mommy S.O.S.!)

How much sleep does your child really need? Use these guidelines:

1 week old: 16.5 total hours, including 4 naps

1 month: 15.5 total hours, including 3 naps

3 months: 15 total hours, including 3 naps

6 months: 14.25 total hours, including 2 naps

9 months: 14 total hours, including 2 naps

1 year: 13.75 total hours, including 2 naps

18 months: 13.5 total hours, including 1 nap

Age 2: 13 total hours, including 1 nap

Age 3: 12 total hours, including 1 nap

Age 4: 11.5 total hours, with no naps

Ages 5 to 9: 10-11 total hours, with no naps

Ages 10 to 15: 9-10 total hours, with no naps

Source: Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (Simon & Schuster)by Richard Ferber, MD

I've been thinking quite a bit about our morning wake time of 6:00am. I picked that time WAY back when we were first implementing sleep training. I thought that was the time we would need when I went back to work. It works fine for us, but 6:00am is pretty early on those days at home and weekends. (Believe me, as a former night owl, it is shocking to me that 7:00am sounds like heaven!). My point is this: Some kids are probably just early risers and we may have one of those. It is all we can do to hold her off to 6:00am, but she is still sleeping at least 11 hours, so we can't complain. If I could do it over, I might have thought more creatively about how we could have gotten out of the house with a later wake time. I don't think there is any going back at this point!

Exersaucers are a god-send! Girly loves to be upright (she is nosy) and it keeps her entertained forEVER. As a side note, there is something about being in an exersaucer that induces pooping - beware!

Finally, check out The Soft Landing. It is a great website, started by a nurse, with all kinds of safe feeding items for baby. I have been using it as reference for a while now (good blog, and VIDEOS of items in use - genius!) and just realized that they are located in the Kansas City area! They are a web-only business, but for those of you who are local, you can order on their website and pick-up in Olathe to save shipping. Love supporting those local businesses!

Now, off to work on my order .... baby feeding supplies here we come!
(Any advice?)