Welcome Philippa, nice to see a fellow Aussie here
Well Liam is getting his appetite back... I had 3 night feeds last night, which really hurt after he was going 11 hours without a feed last week, but that is good & infact he has bounced back so well... pity I can't say the same about me... I feel like I have a bad case of the flu, I ache worse than I did after going through labour!! Aiden is also getting his last molars so is a real grump not sleeping etc, so tears seem to be the order of the day here too!
Silvia, A K is a spirited baby, like Aiden, I found when he started to get very alert around the 4/5mo mark, I had to have a long wind down... what I did was sit in a chair with him & read stories... I read ones for preschoolers, like pooh bear, peter pan etc, ones that took ages to read (15-20mins). That worked a treat, because it stopped me being frustrated, with sitting holding him for ages & the sound of my voice seemed to calm him.
Re the swaddling issue, I still sort of swaddle Liam, but I have always used the Aussie swaddle, so I can place Liam's hands near his face so he can suck on them (how he sooths off to sleep) but still stops him from moving them too much. The beauty of the Aussie swaddle, is it is easy to gradually loosen to wean them from it... there is a post in one of the sleep forums on how to do it. I use a big muslin square, but a cot sheet works well too. I have always had to use a big wrap, as both boys are/were big.
Also re the sucking fingers, why it seems to work at night & not day is that the bedtime routine is probably much more consistent & nap time they need longer wind down. While it might seem like your lo is getting stimulated by it, it is probably more the case of frustration as it isn't working to settle them. This is a difficult age when it comes to settling & I certainly am finding, I have been more successful with increasing the wind down time. I can almost recite the books I read from memory now.
Re the car seat... I have never used a carrier, they aren't very popular here & most of my friends who did use them in the past had to get a rear facing seat, as their lo's grew out of the carrier, before they had neck control/size to go forward facing, so we just bought the convertable one to start.
I haven't written crib notes like I normally do (how I can remember who said what) but who ever it is who is flying with their lo, make sure you feed or give a paci on take off & landing to help with the pressure. I have flown with both boys & had absolutely no problems as they were sucking.