Marco's 4 Month Update

Marco's 4 Month Growth Stats:
Height: 26 3/4 inches (95%ile)
Weight: 15lbs 11oz (75%ile)
Head: 17 1/8 (75%ile)

Night Sleep: He’s still not on any real schedule, but daytime nap patterns have emerged which is nice. As for night sleep, he typically goes to be between 8-9pm. And, up until about 2 weeks ago, he’d first wake up between 12-2am for a feeding and then again between 4-6am. Well, lately, he’s been waking up crying around 10:30pm, 11:30pm… and we’re able to soothe him back to sleep without me nursing him. But, at 12am or 12:30am, he’ll want to eat and that’s when I bring him into bed with me so he can nurse and I can try and get some sleep. My theory for him waking up more often in recent weeks is that he is beginning to teethe. And, I say that because he is a drooling mess during the day and wants to chew/bite my hand constantly, as well as anything that he can manage to pick up and put into his mouth. Poor little guy! Also, the past few nights he’s been waking up in the 3am hour crying. Sometimes it takes me getting out of bed and rocking him back to sleep. And, sometimes I’m able to “shhhhhhhhhhh…” him back to sleep. I love teething (not)! Then, he’s also decided to start his days earlier. So, he’s now waking up for the day between 6:30-7:30am.

Naps: Marco’s awake time has now stretched to 1.5-2 hours during the day. Every time he wakes up… he’s able to stay awake for almost 2 hours before he needs to take another nap. I love when these patterns start emerging, as it makes everything so much easier. I can always anticipate when he’ll need to go back down for a nap. His first nap of the day is usually around 8:30am. The majority of his naps are still rather short (30-40 minutes). But, he has napped as long as 1.5 hours.

Eating: Marco still eats on demand…lucky boy! When he is hungry, I nurse him. I will also still nurse him to soothe him if he’s upset. I probably still nurse him 12 times throughout the day. The doctor told us we could start to feed him rice cereal, mixed with breast milk. But, I’ve decided to pass on even trying the rice cereal, as not one of my children ever liked it… and actually, it made most of my babies gag. Instead, I’ll just start introducing him to baby pureed vegetables in a few weeks. I always really enjoy giving babies little tastes of their first baby foods. It can be so entertaining watching all the facial expressions, their look of utter disgust, and watching their little tongues try to figure out what the heck that spoon object is that you’re putting in their mouth. Not to mention, it’s always fun to see how much of the food they actually get on their tongue and figure out how to swallow.

New tricks:
· Rolling from back to tummy, constantly. Sometimes doing this the very second you put him down.
· Gripping objects… he’ll eye something, and then it’s so fun to watch him move his hands towards it and try to grasp it and bring it to his mouth.
· Chewing on mommy’s hand, constantly.
· Chewing on anything that he can grasp and bring to his mouth.
· He has shown interest in watching us eat. I’ll sit him in the high chair with us while we’re eating dinner, or whatever, and he seems very busy watching everyone put food in their mouths.
· His neck strength has improved drastically, and he is now constantly turning his head to look around towards the sounds he hears, or when people enter a room, or at the various objects and lights that surround him
· Enjoys tummy time now. He’s able to lift his head and neck high by pushing up with his hands.

· More talking. He is very interested in talking, or telling stories as we say. He’s also sort of doing this muffled screaming sound that goes on, and on (which we refer to as him telling us a story). He’s very happy when he’s talking and the kids love it!

· His core strength is developing to the point where I can sort of hold him on my hip and not have to be super concerned about holding his neck or head. I love it when you can start holding your baby on your hip and they just hold on to you!

· Marco still isn’t a HUGE fan of the car… but he’s getting better. Or, maybe the kids are just getting better at distracting him instead? All I know is the blood curdling crying in the car which I will go to great lengths to avoid is becoming more rare.
· Marco has started to enjoy stroller rides. I love this, as it gives me a little more freedom to take him on walks and runs and bring him outside with the kids.