Wow - welcome to all the new moms who have joined in on our little thread! So good to hear how everyone else is doing.
Katie, my LO, will be five months on Saturday (time flies) and at the present time is grabbing everything and putting it in her mouth (when I carry her around the house, her hands just try to grab whatever she can reach - yesterday she stuffed a catalog I was looking at in her mouth and cried when I took it away).
She has now rolled over twice - just did it for the first time the day before yesterday - Bianca, my doctor said that with all the time babies spend on their backs now, they don't expect them to roll over until closer to 6 months now.
She is super chatty - makes lots and lots of noise - screams, squeals, cooes, you name it, she does it. Loves to just scoot around, wiggle, kick, splash in the bath, roll on her side, anything that requires movement! Makes changing her very interesting.
No solids yet, here in the US, they use the 4-6 month guideline - the dr said she was probably ready at her 4 month checkup, but we've been holding off, based on all the research out there that says it's better to wait. We'll probably start just past 5.5 months as they did want us to start before 6 and we'll be away that weekend and I didn't want to start something new then. As it is, she has been getting her first two teeth for the past month or so (I've been able to see them, but they just won't come the rest of the way through) and keeps making these funny chewing motions with her mouth. Makes me glad I've waited this long as she now seems more ready than she was a month ago, so I'm sure a few more weeks will help some more.
James' mom - I do agree with Bianca - if his lack of wait gain is a cause for concern, bring his feedings closer together. However, if your Health Nurse doesn't have a problem with his gain and he's having enough wet diapers (there are guidelines somewhere) I wouldn't worry.
KQ - I tried to get Katie onto a 4 hour routine at around 3.5 months, but she just wasn't ready for it. She pretty much transitioned herself right around 4 months, so I would just go with the shorter routine until Sam lets you know he's ready.
As for all your early wakers - Katie was up at 5 every day for about a month - seemed to be the last remnant of night wakings. I just fed her at that point, but she did go right back to sleep, so I'm not sure what to tell you if they don't. I found it didn't throw us off too badly for the rest of the day. I think there's a few threads on it in the sleep forum. I also found that if I would hear her start to stir at that time, I woudl go in right away and feed her and even though I know it's best to not rush in, I knew she was hungry and was going to wake up anyway, so I would feed her and she'd go right back to sleep for a few more hours. I didn't do it that many times though, and I don't think it would be a good long term technique, maybe just a way out of early wakings.
Caroline - I don't think you're making Charlie into a clingy baby. It's mainly just Katie and I and dh for a bit at night. We wander around the park and the mall and stores so she can see other people which she loves, but I don't think they really need to interact with a wide variety of other people right now. As long as you can put him down and he'll play happily and doesn't need to be physically attached to you all the time, I would think you'll be fine (just my opinion though, I have no experience to back this up!)
Take care all!
-Erin
