15 July , 20152 July , 2016 - Sarah 4 Comments

Toby is two years old!

Two years old! How on earth did we get here? My baby is well and truly a toddler now and yet I can remember his birth as if it was yesterday.

We had a lovely day on Saturday for Toby’s birthday. All four of his grandparents came up from England and my friends Claire and Dave came round with their twins who are three months younger than Toby. It was the same people we had there for his birthday last year and everyone was saying that it didn’t seem like a year had passed!

We didn’t actually get Toby many presents. He is still only two after all and I’d rather hold off on loads of presents until he is old enough to understand what is going on. I knew he would be getting plenty of things from friends and relatives too so our present to him was really trying to make sure he had a fun day (and we’ve also booked to go and see In The Night Garden Live in September which will be a birthday treat!).

Everyone came round in the morning and although the boys were all a little shy at first they soon got stuck in to playing with all Toby’s toys. His new Duplo from his uncle and auntie was definitely a hit (as much with my dad as the kids I think) but as predicted Toby was most enjoying his massive number 2 helium balloon!

We had a buffet lunch which the boys all seemed to enjoy eating on the living room floor.

And then it was time for the big reveal of the rainbow cake that I had spent most of the previous day baking. I was pleased with how it looked from the outside but until I cut into it I wasn’t really sure how it was going to have turned out. Thankfully it looked awesome!

I was very happy with it, and everyone else seemed suitably impressed. It might have cost me over £25 for the ingredients (mostly because I had to buy all the different food colours which were £2.80 a pot) but I reckon it was worth it. It tasted pretty good too! Toby was a bit confused by the candles at first but he always blows on things if you tell him they are hot so we explained the candles were hot and he managed to blow them out eventually (with a bit of help from me!).

We split one slice of cake between all three boys and they soon got stuck in, although even that was a bit too much for Toby in the end. He definitely seemed to be enjoying it though.

After Claire, Dave and the twins had gone home we got out Toby’s present from his Grandma and Grandad; a new slide for the garden! Toby loves the slide and spent ages just going up and down. Hopefully he’ll get plenty of use out of it this summer.

After playing for a while in the garden we came back in and Toby had fun playing with a couple of the new toys his Nana had got him too. He loved the magnetic fishing game, and the Magnadoodle has been a definite hit too.

Everyone else headed home about four o’clock and after some tea we took Toby up to bed – he was fast asleep within minutes! He did so well throughout the day, and without a nap too! He’s not always great with lots of people around, and it can take him a little while to get used to seeing his grandparents with not getting to see them that often but he was brilliant all day really. He’s definitely growing up fast. He’s got lots of words now, and seems to learn new ones every day. We’ve still got a way to go before he can really communicate properly but we’re getting closer and closer. I’m sure the next year will fly by again and it won’t be long before I’m saying ‘Toby is three – how did that happen??’

28 January , 20152 July , 2016 - Sarah 3 Comments

Toby is 18 months old

So Toby is 18 months old (well, more like 18 and a half due to my tardiness in finishing this post). From when I started this blog until Toby was one I wrote monthly updates but I haven’t written one since his 12 month update in July. Six months on and we are definitely the parents of a toddler and not a baby any more. So, what’s been happening in the last six months?

Toby is still really tall for his age. I’ve not actually been able to measure him for quite a while but we weighed him at Christmas, he weighs 28 lbs and I’ve just swapped all his clothes over to age 2-3 (although he’s been wearing some 2-3 sleepsuits for a while now). I’d like to keep him wearing poppered vests for the moment but I’m really struggling to find any big enough. I managed to get some plain white ones in age 2-3 from Tesco but if anyone has any ideas where I could get some coloured ones then please do share. He’s also got pretty big feet and is wearing a size 6 – he’s had them a while though and there’s still plenty of growing room in them so his feet can’t be growing too fast.

Our little toddler has been walking for about three months now. We did have a bit of a set back in November when he had some mystery injury to his leg or foot and wouldn’t but any weight on it for a couple of weeks, but whatever that was he now seems fully recovered. Now he can walk Toby loves running about in the house and hiding behind doors or trying to shut us out of rooms. He has been tall enough to reach the door handles for ages but a few weeks ago he worked out how to open the doors too so now nothing is safe from him.

We finally seem to be getting a respite from teething. Toby now has 16 teeth so only his back molars still to come. Even though the teething has stopped for the moment he is still suffering with every cough and cold that comes his way – one of the hazards of going to nursery full time I guess! Speaking of nursery, Toby has been going full time since August now and most of the time he really seems to like it. We’ve had plenty of mornings when he’s cried as I’ve dropped him off, but usually when he isn’t feeling well or hasn’t slept well and is still tired. I hate having to wake him up at 6:30 am and he doesn’t always get the best naps at nursery either so weekends are often spent catching up on sleep, for everyone!

Toby is very talkative and is often babbling away but we still don’t have many recognisable words. He says Dada a lot (and sadly Mum very rarely), and ‘what’s that?’ whilst pointing at things, or at least that’s what it sounds like. He does say see-saw quite clearly when he’s on his rocking horse, or even if I just rock him on my knee. He also says something resembling spider, and if you say spider to him he’ll point to the ceiling because that’s where all the spiders were in our house in the autumn. Oh. and ‘shoe’ is the other word that he definitely knows. We just need him to learn a few words that would actually be useful in helping him communicate now though! Although, he’s not saying much yet Toby definitely understands so much these days. It’s actually quite amazing to see. He can follow some instructions and knows where things belong. Every night he puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket in his room (even if he does sometimes then take them all out again so he can put the basket on his head!). He shakes his head for no if we ask him questions, but doesn’t seem to have a way of saying yes yet though.

Part of Toby’s ongoing struggle to communicate is quite regular tantrums or crying when he doesn’t get his own way. It’s quite exhausting sometimes and I have to admit I’m a bit rubbish at just giving in for an easy life sometimes. He is usually relatively easily distracted though so most of the time it’s not too bad. And although he might not be able to communicate much he definitely knows what the phone is for, and loves picking it up and saying ‘hiya’. In fact it doesn’t have to be the phone, any vaguely phone shaped object will do.

Sleep, or rather lack of, is still an issue that we are doing our best to cope with. On the occasional night recently Toby has slept all night but usually he’s awake once or twice. He still has a bottle at bedtime and more often than not he will need another if he wakes up in the night. He does seem to be genuinely hungry rather than just seeking comfort from it, but I don’t know what we can do to try and get more food in him during the day. He already has two breakfasts, two snacks, lunch and dinner at nursery plus more food when he gets home! I know he shouldn’t really still need bottles at 18 months but with a full time job I really need as much sleep as I can get and when the options are 10 minutes in the night to give a bottle and then he goes straight back to sleep, or spend half an hour or more with him screaming before he calms down I’m afraid I’m going to go for the bottle every time. I just have to trust that one day he’ll eventually grow out of needing milk in the night and we can all get some proper sleep!

I realise that a lot of this sounds like a bit of a moan, and in all honesty I am finding things pretty hard at the moment. But then Toby gives me a big cuddle, or runs around the house like a loon, or makes us laugh in any number of ways and then I remember how much I love him and I wouldn’t change him for the world.

16 July , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 2 Comments

Toby is one year old!

One year old!! The first update I wrote on this blog was when Toby was four months old and now he’s one. I know everyone says it but I really can’t believe how quickly the time has gone.

There have been a few developments this month; Toby seems to be getting bigger every day (and everyone comments on how massive he is!) but I still haven’t had him weighed since he was 10 months old. He’s still very long and skinny though, not your typical chubby baby in the slightest. He’s so strong though – he doesn’t stay still unless he’s sleeping and if we try and sit with him he wriggles away and crawls all over us. Nappy changes are often something of a challenge!

Toby now has eight teeth and had his first visit to the dentist today, although he refused to let the dentist actually look at his teeth! I thought we might get a bit of a break from teething for a while but his sleep has been all over the place for the last week and after a feel around his mouth today I think one of his first molars might be on its way. Did I mention that I hate teething?

Toby still loves to stand up but won’t do it unless he’s pulled himself up. He did actually let go and stand unsupported the other day but only for a few seconds and he hasn’t tried it since. He’s cruising a little bit but still mostly prefers to sit down, crawl to where he wants to go then stand up again. He got a push along trolley/walker thing for his birthday though so maybe that will encourage him to start walking rather than crawling. His favourite toy is still his stacking cups. He doesn’t try and stack them but he’s got very good at separating them then putting them back inside one another again. He’s started giving some of his soft toys cuddles recently too which is so cute! And he’s still giving us lots of cuddles too (and less biting which is good).

We still don’t have any real words – Toby does now say mama and mum as well as dada, and we sometimes get yeah and hiya, but I still don’t think he really knows what he’s saying. He’s very cute babbling away to us though.

Toby’s still eating pretty much anything we put in front of him, although he does have days when he seems to have less of an appetite than others. Breadsticks are a firm favourite (in fact, so much that I do worry slightly about how many he eats!) and cherry tomatoes are high on the list too. We have started to make the switch to cow’s milk but after lots of night waking we’re going to stick with formula at bedtime for now in case hunger is part of the problem. He’s accepted cow’s milk without any trouble though, although it is still warm and in a bottle so I wouldn’t imagine there’s much difference. He’s also doing better with drinking water – we couldn’t get him to use a sippy cup at all really, despite trying all sorts of different ones so he now uses a bottle with a silicone straw and is really good at drinking from it. We’re trying to make an effort to offer him a drink more often too, to make sure he is getting enough fluids throughout the day.

And I think that’s about it for this month. Toby’s such a little character these days and I can’t wait to see what developments will come next!

17 June , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 2 Comments

Toby is eleven months old

We’re a little bit late this month – Toby actually turned eleven months old when we were in France last week. I can’t believe in less than a month I’ll have a one year old baby!

I haven’t weighed or measured Toby this month but he is definitely still growing. I’ve just had to put him into bigger sleepsuits as his toes were getting squashed in the bottom of his old ones. All his clothes now are 12-18 months but I’m starting to find that a lot of things are too big round the waist and the sleeves too long but the smaller sizes aren’t long enough. The perils of having a tall baby I suppose!

This month’s major development has to be standing up! Toby can now pull himself to standing easily using his cot or the play pen (or anything he can get his hands on really) and once he’s stood up he’s fairly stable and can just hold on with one hand. He’s started cruising along the edge of his play pen too. Weirdly though he doesn’t want to stand up at all when we’re holding him, only when he’s pulled himself up on his own! There were a few tumbles and bumped heads when Toby first started pulling himself up but he seems to have worked out how to sit back down without too much of a bang now. He can also get himself from crawling to sitting now so he’s can really move wherever he wants to. This means he’s much happier to play on his own for a while as he doesn’t get stuck in one position and need help to move. I love seeing him getting more independent although it is sometimes a pain when he wants to explore and gets into everything he shouldn’t!

We’ve had a little bit of a break from teething this month – Toby now has four teeth on top and three on bottom. We did think the other bottom one was coming at the same time as its partner but it hasn’t made an appearance yet. With teeth though has come a new problem – Toby has taken to biting us! I don’t think he is doing it with any intention of hurting us but it really does when he gives you a good nip, and I’ve got the bruises to prove it! I can usually tell when a bite might be coming though and make sure I stop Toby and and we’re trying to teach him ‘no’, although with limited success so far!

Of course this month also saw Toby’s first foreign holiday and he was great the whole time. He coped especially well with the three day drive to get there and the two day drive to get home. We had a few crying episodes when he had just woken up and he had to wait for us to get to the next services but for the most part he did really well. Sleep was a bit hit and miss, he woke up at least once most nights but he settled back to sleep OK most of the time. Since we came home though sleep hasn’t been so good – the last couple of nights Toby has woken up crying and taken ages to settle again. He seems to be OK when I pick him up and give him a cuddle but as soon as I put him back in the cot he just starts screaming, and I mean really screaming. I have a feeling he might have a bit of an ear infection so if tonight is no better I’m going to take him to the doctor’s to get checked out. Fingers crossed he gets over what ever it is soon though.

Other than that my little monkey is still showing his personality every day. After mastering saying ‘Dada’ (and not saying much else for a few weeks) he is now babbling even more and making a few more sounds. No Mama yet though… He was copying Barry and my dad shaking their heads on holiday too which he thought was very funny. And I think lastly, my favourite development this month is that Toby has developed his cuddling technique! For a while now he has kind of snuggled into my neck when I pick him up but now he has started putting his arms round my neck too. It’s so cute!

So that’s my little boy; eleven months old and less than a month to go until his very first birthday.

12 May , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 2 Comments

Toby is ten months old!

Another month gone – Toby is ten months old and we are getting closer and closer to his first birthday, I really don’t know where the time is going!

Toby has been doing some more growing this month. I finally got round to having him weighed the other day and he is now 21lb 10oz and happily sitting just below the 75th centile line. I’m not surprised though – he loves his food and is still eating everything we give him. He’s now wearing all 12-18 month vests and sleepsuits and some other clothes too. I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s grown out of all his 9-12 month clothes too. I know some people find it sad when their baby grows out of stuff but I’m just happy that Toby has new clothes for me to put him in! I’ve got him some really cute things to wear on our holidays, and I hope we get some nice weather this summer so he can get plenty of use out of them!

The big development this month has been that Toby is properly crawling on his hands and knees now. He still drops down to his tummy and commando crawls sometimes but whichever way he chooses to move he is very speedy! He is almost managing to sit himself up now too and has started reaching up for things on tables and shelves although he isn’t really trying to pull himself up yet.

He still has six teeth but I’m fairly sure the next bottom two are only a few days away (at least I hope so). Toby seems to suffer much worse with the bottom teeth than he did with the top ones and he’s been waking up in the a lot for the last few nights. It’s so horrible to hear him in pain and not really being able to do anything about it except administer Calpol and cuddles. Talking of sleep this month has been OK on the whole, although when we were on holiday it was a nightmare trying to get Toby to go to sleep. He would properly scream whenever we left the room we were sleeping in and I ended up lying on the single bed in there for ages most nights until he was calm enough to go to sleep. Once he was asleep he slept all night but it was horrible because it’s just something we’re not used to. At home we give Toby his milk, put him in his sleeping bag, say ‘night night Toby, sleepy time now’ and leave the room. And that’s it, he goes to sleep on his own. I think there were a few things contributing to the screaming on holiday though – firstly, now he’s older he’s much more aware of his surroundings and he knew he wasn’t at home. He hasn’t slept in the travel cot since Christmas either so that was different. It was really hot in the cottage too, even with no heating on, so hot that eventually I ended up just putting him to bed in his sleepsuit, without his sleeping bag at all. And lastly, the room had a skylight. There was a blackout blind but there was a small gap letting light in and I think looking up at that maybe freaked Toby out a bit too. I’m sure being out every day and not getting his proper naps didn’t help either. He was back to normal as soon as we got home so it wasn’t too much of a disaster – I’m just hoping we don’t get a repeat performance when we go on holiday to France next month!

He’s still such a cheeky little boy, always ready with a smile and a giggle (despite the teething!). It was lovely when we were away that he seems to have started to recognise his grandparents – he certainly had big smiles for them all when he saw them. He babbles away all the time too, although despite Barry’s best efforts to teach him he’s not really managed to say Dada yet, apart from a couple of times which I think were more luck than intention! He’s new way of communicating this month though, which I’m not quite as keen on is squealing. It’s so high-pitched and so loud too! I think he must be trying to shatter glass or something. It can be very cute though – when I had been in Dundee for the day for my Spanish course, and left before Toby got up he did the biggest squeals of excitement when he saw me walk back through the door.

So I think that’s it for this month – Toby is ten months old already, and he’s developing so quickly. I wonder what the next month will bring?

11 April , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 1 Comment

Toby is nine months old!

We’ve made it to one of the big milestones – at nine months old Toby has now been out of my tummy for as long as he was in it! He’s actually 39 weeks old but as he never made it to 40 weeks (he was born 8 days early) he really has been out in the world for as long as I was pregnant. It makes you realise just how long pregnancy is because although time is flying it feels like Toby has been with us forever.

So what’s Toby been up to this month? Growing it seems! He was weighed a couple of days after he turned eight months old and was 20lb 1oz. He’s not been weighed yet this month but I did measure him yesterday and he has grown 9cm in the last two months. He has always been in the 91st centile for his height but he is now off the top of the chart! No wonder he’s already growing out of some 12-18 month sleepsuits.

On the movement front Toby is well and truly commando crawling. He does get up and on his hands and knees, and hands and feet in an impressive downward dog, but since he figured our his commando crawling he seems to have given up trying to crawl in the more traditional way. With his new found movement skills he is getting into everything. His favourite for now seems to be exploring our fireplace. We got some foam stuff to put round the bottom so he doesn’t hurt himself on the marble but all he wants to do now is eat it – so we are making our first real forays into trying to teach him what ‘no’ means. I’m rubbish though, he looks at me with such mischief in his eyes that I can’t help laughing!

Since last month we have got four new teeth so that makes six all together. Toby’s top four teeth have all come through at the same time but luckily for him (and for us!) they don’t seem to have caused him as much trouble as the bottom two did. It has made for a pretty grumpy month though, and lots of disturbed sleep although he is still only really waking up once a night at most and sometimes still sleeping right through.

Eating is still going very well. Since we got a second car a couple of weeks ago Barry is getting home from work much earlier so Toby is now having three meals a day and staying up with us for his tea. Broccoli (or brocco-lollies as we call them because Toby holds it like a lolly and sucks all the end off!) and banana seem to be favourite foods so far but he still eats everything we put in front of him. He has three bottles a day (first thing, before afternoon nap and before bed) but he isn’t always that interested in milk. We have been trying, without much success, to get him to drink water and I’ve been a bit worried that he isn’t getting enough fluids but he seems fine and is still having plenty of wet and dirty nappies so I guess he’s OK. Big news this month (which I’ve already written about here) is that Toby isn’t taking any medication now and seems to have well and truly grown out of his reflux. Hurray!

Although it’s a bit of a nightmare chasing Toby all over the house making sure he doesn’t get up to any mischief I am loving seeing him exploring everything. He has such a cheeky personality and is always smiling and laughing. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Toby has started giving us cuddles – well his latest thing seems to be trying to give us kisses too. At least that’s what I’ve decided he’s trying to do when he licks our necks and faces – it’s either that or he’s turning into a vampire baby and is just trying to eat us! He likes to give himself kisses in his mirror too!

I got Toby’s photo taken yesterday too so we can apply for his first passport ready for our holiday to France in June (which we haven’t actually booked yet!). We’re all looking forward to our first holiday abroad and Toby will be almost one by then! Before that though we’ve got a week in the Lake District to look forward to at the end of this month and we’ll see how Toby copes away from home now he’s a bit older and more aware of his surroundings. Hopefully the change to his routine won’t bother him too much.

So that’s it for this month’s update – time is going so quickly but I’m loving seeing my baby turn into a cheeky little boy.

11 March , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 4 Comments

Toby is eight months old!

I know I say this every month but I can’t believe another month has gone already. I suppose February was a particularly short month but even so it only seems like a couple of weeks since I was writing that Toby was seven months old! But there’s nothing we can do, time is definitely moving forwards and Toby is now eight months old!

I don’t actually know what Toby weighs at the moment as we haven’t been to the clinic since the beginning of last month, but he’s definitely getting bigger. He’s been wearing 9-12 month sleepsuits and vests for a while now (in fact he’s almost grown out of some of them!) and I have just had a wardrobe reshuffle and moved him into all his 9-12 month clothes as well.

We still haven’t got any crawling but Toby can definitely move pretty much wherever he wants to just by rolling, spinning and shuffling backwards! He’s got doing a full 360 spin on his tummy down to a fine art now. He also gets up on his hands and knees on his own but just hasn’t quite figured out how to move his arms and legs so he moves forwards yet. He is much more stable sitting up now too – we’ve set up a little corner of cushions on his play mat so he can sit safely without falling backwards and banging his head (which has happened a couple of times when I’ve left him sitting unsupported – bad mummy!).

The two teeth which were just starting to make an appearance last month are now well and truly here although they haven’t been joined by any more yet. You can definitely see the top teeth and the other bottom ones sitting under the gum waiting to come through now though.

Despite only having two teeth Toby is doing really well on solids now. He has two meals a day with milk in between – usually porridge, toast or yogurt and cereal for breakfast and then for dinner he has whatever we had the night before. So far he’s had meatballs and pasta, chicken curry and rice, mince and tatties, Spanish omelette and last week he had his first pancake too! He eats anything we give him really – I can’t actually think of anything he has refused to eat so far. We are slowly finding our own way of weaning that is best for us – basically we are following the babyled weaning principal of Toby just eating the same food as us, but if he needs help to eat then we help him, whether that is by spoon feeding, or just helping him put things in his mouth. Having said that he is getting much better at picking things up and putting them in his mouth himself now – he surprised me yesterday by being able to pick up single Cheerios and get them in his mouth!

As far as sleep goes Toby is still a little star really! He has two naps a day, usually about an hour and a half to two hours each, and then bedtime is a 6 pm. He always goes to sleep on his own with no bother and most of the time he sleeps through until around 8 am, although maybe once a week he will wake up once for a feed during the night. All in all though his sleeping is great and we don’t have any complaints!

The last thing I want to mention in this month’s update is something I’ve already written about, but this month we took Toby on the swings at the park for the first time! He didn’t seem to enjoy it too much the first time but I think he was just a bit confused by the whole thing and there were lots of other bigger children running around being noisy. Today I took him to another, smaller park at the top of our road and as you can see from the photos I think he had a lot more fun this time! Let’s just hope spring has really sprung and we can get out even more in the lovely sunshine.

12 February , 20149 October , 2020 - Sarah 13 Comments

Toby is seven months old

Yep. It’s that time again! Another month has gone by and Toby is now seven months old, so what’s he been up to since his last update?

Well, there have been quite a few developments since last month. Toby now weighs 18lb 11oz and is already wearing 9-12 month sleepsuits and vests! Weight-wise he has gone from being in the 9th centile when he was born to now being in the 50th. And his height is still in the 91st centile! He’s almost grown out of his first car seat now so we’ll be having to buy a new one in the next few weeks.

After his random, only being able to sit up at Baby Sensory, Toby can now sit pretty well unsupported. He still topples over sometimes if he reaches for something but most of the time he can stay upright. He still prefers to be on his tummy though and is really pushing himself up on his arms and trying to get up on his knees too. He has started shuffling himself backwards sometimes now too – especially when I am trying to change his nappy when he rolls onto his tummy then pushes himself backwards off the changing mat (we’ve been changing him on the floor for quite a while now!). He can now roll to either side to get on his front, and roll back again! I wrote in last month’s update how he’d learnt to roll onto his tummy but would shout when he wanted to roll back again but it only took about another week before he worked out how to do it himself. Toby is also now able to stand up holding onto the furniture, but only if I put him there. He has started trying to pull himself up a bit on his cot too – I don’t think it will be long before we have to lower it.

We have teeth! Well, teething symptoms have ramped up again this week. It feels like both bottom teeth have just about broken the gum, although it’s hard to really see anything at the moment. Luckily teething hadn’t bothered Toby too much (until yesterday!). We’ve had lots and lots of dribbling, lots of chewing things, red cheeks and a few very nasty dirty nappies and then yesterday (typically while I was at work for the day and daddy was in charge) Toby was really, really grumpy – he didn’t want to sleep, he cried if the hubby tried to put him down and it was generally a very miserable day for them both. I’m hoping that now they have broken the gum things might ease off a little bit. Fingers crossed eh?

Weaning is going reasonably well too, although Toby still doesn’t seem that interested in food. I wrote a guest post about our first few weeks of baby-led weaning on Redhead Babyled a few weeks ago. Since then Toby has tried lots of different things. He has started trying to get things in his mouth occasionally but mostly he only eats if we hold the food for him. He does seem to like trying to feed himself with a spoon though – so far porridge and fromage frais have been favourites. With these things I give him his own spoon to try and use himself and feed him a bit with another spoon which seems to work pretty well for us. We’re just going to continue offering Toby lots of different foods and combine giving him a chance to play with his food and feed himself along with holding things for him so he can eat that way. I’m sure he’ll figure out how to get things in his mouth himself soon enough. His manual dexterity is improving all the time and he has almost worked out his pincer grip now.

I think that’s about it for this month. I’m absolutely loving this phase of babyhood – it’s just awesome seeing Toby learn new things and become more and more like a little boy every day.

11 January , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah Leave a comment

Toby is six months old!

Wow! Six months old already. It only seems like five minutes since I was writing his five month update. It’s been a busy month though. We’ve had Toby’s first Christmas and a visit to see both sets of grandparents (which included an epic seven hour trip home during which Toby didn’t cry once!). The other big development this month is that we’ve started weaning! More on that later though.

So Toby is continuing to grow steadily – he weighed in today at 17lb 7oz so slowly creeping up the centiles but still very long and skinny. He’s in all his 6-9 month clothes now (and has been for a couple of weeks). There is no way most of those clothes are going to last until he’s nine months though! I’ve just had to order new 6-18 month sleeping bags too as his feet are right in the bottom of the ones he’s got at the moment. If this carries on he’s definitely going to be the tallest kid in the infants!

Sleep has been going fairly well lately, although I have a feeling that might be about to change temporarily. Toby has been continuing with his sometimes sleeping through, sometimes waking up for one feed and his naps have been great lately. However, in the last couple of days he has really got the hang of rolling over. Which means he rolls on to his tummy and then wakes up and realises he doesn’t want to be on his tummy and cries until someone comes to rescue him. I really hope he learns to roll back over himself soon so he can just be whichever way round he fancies. Sitting up is going well too. For some reason though Toby is fantastic at sitting up on his own at Baby Sensory, but then we get home he just starts toppling over again. It’s so weird! He’s still trying really hard to crawl as well. As soon as he is on his tummy his legs start kicking away but they still aren’t really getting him anywhere yet!

Despite all the teething symptoms last month we still don’t have any visible teeth. That hasn’t stopped us starting to offer Toby some food to try though. We’re mostly going with baby-led weaning; offering Toby the same things we’re eating. He’s very happy playing with his finger foods but doesn’t seem to quite have the dexterity (or the inclination) to put them in his mouth yet. He has eaten a little bit of a few things when we’ve held them for him, toast seems to be the favourite so far! I’m sure if we just keep offering him different things he’ll figure it out sooner or later. As far as his reflux goes, I’ve heard it can improve when they start solids but for now we’re still on the Gaviscon and ranitidine. Whenever we try and reduce the does his symptoms come back so we’ll just stick with it for now.

So that’s it. I can’t believe my tiny 6lb 10oz baby is a strapping six month old. Half way to one. It’s just crazy. Bananas!

20 December , 20132 July , 2016 - Sarah Leave a comment

When will my baby sleep again?

All I want for Christmas…

…is my happy, smiley, sleeping-through-the-night baby back. (Or his two front teeth!). Will my baby sleep through the night ever again?

It would seem Toby is teething and already I hate it. I know this is only the beginning, that once these teeth appear there will only be more to come. It’s just so horrible to watch him in pain and especially as these are the first teeth he has no idea what is happening to him. There has been a lot of dribbling and hand chewing for a while now but at the weekend the inconsolable crying started. And bless the little bear, he was trying to smile but then would just dissolve into tears again. We’ve given him Calpol and Nurofen, and teething gel. We’ve got a few teethers but he doesn’t seem interested in them at all (although I know his Nana has bought him a Sophie la Girafe for Christmas so we’ll see if that’s any more successful). He does like to chew on a muslin though so I make sure he’s always got one nearby. The teething seems to be affecting his appetite as well – after half a bottle he is shaking his head and pushing it away. Which of course then means he is hungry and waking up for a feed in the night, or just waking up crying because he’s in pain. It doesn’t help that whenever I try and give him medicine (even firing it into the back of his mouth with a syringe) he spits half of it back out again. And while we’re on the subject – why does Calpol have to be so bloody sticky!!

So anyway, my conclusion is that teething sucks! I just hope this first tooth (or teeth) shows itself soon and then we have a bit of a break before the next ones show up. If anyone has any miracle cures then please do share them and spread the Christmas cheer our way.

Toby Goes Bananas

A family lifestyle blog

Toby