At 4 months I’d say Flora is a very settled baby. She’s pretty content most of the time (unless she’s having an Eczema flare up) and we are getting more and more into a routine. The past month has been a little tough – as we’ve been trying to determine the cause of Flora’s severe Eczema. We’ve been to the doctor 4 times and tried nearly every cream or lotion on the market, nothing seems to make a difference and I’m now on a full elimination diet to see if it could be a food related allergy. It’s been trying and exhausting but mostly my heart just aches for Flora because I know she’s been uncomfortable a lot lately and I’m really hoping we can determine the cause of this! She also had a major sleep regression that lasted about 2 weeks right around when the Eczema started getting bad- so it’s hard to tell if it was the 4 month sleep regression or her simply being uncomfortable but it was ROUGH – more below!
Flora’s 3 Month Update, 2 Month Update and 1 Month Update.
WEIGHT & LENGTH
Flora is almost 14 pounds! She’s outgrowing all of her clothes so quickly – and is now in 3-6 months.
FEEDING
Flora is still exclusively breast fed and nursing every 2-3 hours during the day. Her spit ups have certainly lessened in the last month which we are all so happy about! I feel that my supply has taken a little dip after being away for 3 days for work at the end of last week – so we’ve been giving her a bottle every day of milk that I pump in the morning (more on my pumping routine here … but right now I’m not saving any for my freezer stash) when we think she’s just hungry and not getting enough from the breast. So far this is working and I’m just trying to get my supply back, drinking 2L of water a day and drinking lactation tea. Need to try and find an egg, gluten & dairy free lactation cookie – or maybe just make my own?! I also think my diet could be affecting my supply since I’m most likely not eating enough!
DEVELOPMENT
I feel a little guilty with Flora’s physical development – because of her Eczema and her constantly wanting to rub and itch her eyes and face we haven’t been doing tummy time as much as we should be. Today I got out our Gathre mat and I’m wondering why I didn’t think of using it earlier! She had a great time looking in the floor length mirror I have out and rolled over from her tummy to back several times! She’s in the phase of always wanting to be around people and doesn’t like if we put her in the swing or Rock & Play and walk away to do something. She’s starting to grasp toys and likes to hold her teether and little blanket. She constantly has her hands in her mouth and has been drooling like crazy. Loud noises really startle her (like our dog barking or Piper screaming) and she continues to have a bit of a witching hour fussiness most days.
SLEEPING
Flora is on a pretty great nap schedule right now – sleeping for at least 45 minutes – an hour during most naps. She takes a morning nap about 2 hours after she wakes up and then I’m usually able to time it right to have her take a second longer nap at 1pm when Piper takes hers. The pre-dinner nap around 4/5 is the one she usually fights and often skips. I start her bedtime routine around 7:30 and she’s sleeping by 8pm most nights. As I mentioned we had a major sleep regression happen a few weeks ago – and long gone were the full nights of sleep. Flora was waking around 1/2am every night and then waking every 30-45 minutes until 5am. Then she’d give us a few solid hours of sleep. She often woke up at 11pm too. It was exhausting and after a week I was feeling it physically and emotionally. We just got the Merlin Sleep Suit and I have to say – like everyone says it was a life saver. She’s been sleeping through the night again and if she wakes up it’s usually only once and a quick rock gets her right back to sleep. The sleep suit is pretty heavy so I worry with the warmer weather coming our way that we’ll need to transition into a regular sleep sack pretty soon, which is probably for the best anyway – but we really needed a little relief there! The suit also makes it hard for Flora to scratch and wiggle her face around which is an added bonus! In my desperation I recently had a call with Becca from Little Z Sleep and got a few really great tips and pointers that we are starting to implement!
WHAT WE ARE LOVING
Here are a few things we are loving in month three with Flora — some repeats from last month and a few new additions.
Little Chew Silicone & Wood Ring Toy: Flora loves holding this and is starting to chew on the silicone beads. It’s so pretty!
Organic Teething Blanket: Flora also likes this simple teething blanket, I love that you can easily wash it- too.
Gathre Play Mat: We’ve been using this in our living room and I’ve propped up a floor length mirror for Flora to look at when she does tummy time, the set up is working great!
Avent Manual Hand Pump: I got so many questions about if having a hand pump is necessary and my answer is YES! I couldn’t live without it and use it all the time! I had a Medela one with Piper but my friend suggested this one and I think it’s so much better, definietly worth the investment.
Finn & Emma Play Gym : We love this because it can move from room to room – right now Flora likes to lay in her Dock-A-Tot under it or just on a blanket.
Play Gym Mat: Flora loves to lay on this and look at the different toys and the mirror.
Petunia Pickle Bottom Pathway Diaper Bag: I just started using this and love it! I love the structure of the bag, all of the compartments and how organized it stays. I like how it feels when you wear it as a backpack more than the Fawn bag (it sticks out so far).
Elimination diets are hard work and require serious dedication. I spent 1/2 of last year on one to figure out what foods were causing me a myriad of awful symptoms. Curious if you got to eliminate corn or nuts yet. All my eczema symptoms disappeared after I stopped eating those 2 foods. I’m having a baby in 4weeks and am already nervous about introducing those foods when it’s time for solids!