Sherry's Café: The 7th Month

Height - 70cm

Weight - 9.6kg (seriously? with all the solids she is taking I thought she'd be piling on the weight?! Though I am happy with the steady gain as I have been worried that I would have a VERY VERY chubby bambina! lol)

Eating - Breastfed 3 times between 7am - 7pm. I stopped giving Rayray her dream feed at 10.30pm as soon as she reached 6 months. I only wanted to experiment at first and it turned out that she slept through the night fine. I also stopped breastfeeding her at lunchtime at 27 weeks as I wanted her to start drinking more water since protein was introduced and she has taken it really well. We struggled with the beaker we bought initially and after searching high and low, I found this - Doidy Cup which works as a treat!!!!

Rayray loves holding it and she just loves the novolty of drinking from a cup and able to see what she is drinking! Not that she knows what water or juice is but I would highly recommend this if anyone's LO struggles with a beaker!

She also loves her food! Believe it or not, one of her favourites is broccoli! lol Could it be that I ate so much of it while I was pregnant or she is just like her mummy? At first, we thought it was a coincidence considering it has a rather strong flavour but whenever we add broccoli in her food, she could't eat fast enough!!! We have been very lucky when it comes to weaning as she generally would eat anything you put in front of her apart from her breakfast. I think she just doesn't get that hungry after boobie milk and would only have a couple of spoonfuls of cereals with fruit puree. However, I have recently discovered that Rayray doesn't actually like banana! She used to like banana mixed with avocado but lately not only she gives me this 'mummy-what-on-earth-are-you-feeding-me' look whenever I put banana in front of her, she is so stubborn that she wouldn't even op her mouth to try!

I have thoroughly enjoyed cooking for Rayray as it's just such a fun experience! I love looking for all sorts of organic produce and just follow Annabel Karmel's and Gina Ford's recipes and make food in batches! So far, baby has had a vast varieties of food including, egg yolk, chicken, salmon, lamb, beef, carrot, potato, courgette, french beans, pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, onion, apple, banana, melon, peach, advocado, baby corn, sweet pepper, tomato, spinach, cheese, walnut (yes, we thought about avoiding nuts but then in most books it does state that unless there is a family history of nut allergy, it is ok to give babies nuts. And I think walnuts help babies' brain development)

I also have started using organic butter or olive oil to cook the meat dishes.

She can feed herself some carrot sticks, a piece of toast or rice cakes. She will look at the cup when she is thirsty and wants water and look at the spoon when she wants more food!

Look at my mad hair after playing in the park and I am now having my spinach and cheese for dinner!

Sleeping - Getting her to sleep at 7pm had progressively became problematic. At first, it would take around an hour to settle her and at one point (two days to be precise) she actually self soothed and fell asleep after 20 minutes. Though things went down hill after that! Not only it would take two hours for her to sleep, I had to feed her so she would sleep! I was frustrated and desperate for help as I did not know what I did wrong..I tried various things including GF's assisting sleeping training and she just wouldn't sleep in the evening! She self soothes during her morning nap and lunch nap but just not in the evening!

I then decided to buy GF's The Complete Sleep Guide and went for the last resort i.e. controlled crying. My god, it was so hard, harder than AST! the first night was the hardest and I was tearing my hair out hearing Rayray crying! After an hour's crying and screaming, she threw up all her dinner and at that point, I thought to myself what on earth was i doing to my baby? I was in tears while cleaning her up, changing her bed linen and new PJs etc. I then breastfed baby and put her down and she still wouldn't sleep. I was exhausted by then but she fell asleep after 10 minutes or so and it was 9pm on dot. I was so determined to give up but I knew not only I didn't want to be sitting by her cot for two hours every night (yes, at one point I decided to try this so I didn't have to hear her crying and hoping she would feel settled that I was right next to her but obviously it didn't work), It was for her own benefit to self sooth as she simply wasn't getting enough sleep at all! Babies at this age need around 15/16 hours of sleep and she was only getting 13/14 hours and it does make a huge difference. Also, I know when babies start teething, it would only get worse if they don't self sooth... (yes, I am one crazy mama...)

Second night was equally hard and I was very worried that she might throw up again. She was very drowsy when I put her down but she started crying when she saw me leaving the room. This time it took her exactly an hour to fall asleep.

Third night is supposed to be the night that most babies would settle themselves within 20 minutes...and unfortunately my stubborn bunny didn't want to conform and only fell asleep after an hour. However, she didn't cry for the entire hour, she did in fact cry down, it just took her longer than 20 minutes.

The fourth night, well I am not sure if it was because she was over tired as she only had half an hour at lunchtime and half an hour in the afternoon, it took her ONE minute to fall asleep.

The fifth night, she started the so-called 'crying down' and fell asleep in 4 minutes.

The result is Rayray has finally learnt to self sooth and I no longer fear bedtime!! Though the downside is that she lost her voice....and I know for you who are reading this must think I am one cruel heartless mother who let her LO cry and throwing up. It really was such a soul destroying experience and I now wonder how I had the stamina to get through it. I also wonder how my mother or grandmother got through it with me as they sure didn't have Gina Ford's routine and I turned out to be ok?

My happy bunny

Development -

Screams, shrieks, says mummmaa (normally when she cries really hard!)

Sit well without support

Discovered her toes and now likes biting her big toes...um..not impressed but really cute to watch

she is so curious about everything, including noises and people and new environment. Talking of which, I am prepared for her 'separation anxiety' to kick off so I hope by taking her out almost everyday and let friends holding and playing with her would help?