Ian Free - 6 months

Oh our sweet boy is 6 months old!  His life is pretty simple and straightforward right now.

Weight: 16 pounds and 4 ounces

Height: 27 and 3/4 inches

Eating: He eats 6-8 ounces at 7:00/11:00 or 11:30/3:00 or 3:30/and 6:45 or 7:00 before bed.  He still eats a little bit in the night (more on that below).

Sleeping: In the morning he will sleep at least 2 hours.  If he's still sleeping after two hours, then I almost always let him sleep 2.5 and occasionally 3 hours.  In the afternoon he will sleep 2 or 2.5 hours.  He still takes a 30-45 minute catnap around 5:30-ish. 


When we take the "no-no's" off, the first thing he does is scratch his head.  Only after doing that he puts his fingers in his mouth!

Since the surgery, he got back on his normal daytime routine within the first week.  But nighttime has been a whole other story.  He has been all kinds of messed up.  Initially after surgery it was expected and understandable to wake up 4 times a night.  He was in pain and he also needed to eat as much as possible since he was only taking in an ounce or two at a time.  As the last 3 weeks have gone by, his night wakings have gotten better, but still not back to how it was before the surgery.  Most of the time he wakes up twice at night, but that's by no means without exceptions.  Just one day last week he woke up every 2 hours throughout the night.  And once or twice he's only woken once.  I still always feed him when he wakes in the night, although I'm not super convinced that he's actually hungry.  I have my reasons for that.  Mainly, he doesn't eat very well at breakfast time if he eats more than 3 oz in the night.  And 3 oz is not considered a full meal.  It's like he's just wanting a little something to help him get back to sleep, but he's not needing a full belly.  I'm just not totally sure he *needs* it, but I still do it.



Last week I took him for his 2 week post surgery checkup.  Everything was fine.  Although I will say that Dr. Yu did not even look in Ian's mouth.  I guess as a doctor he's just that good.  I thought that Ian would be able to take the arm restraints off, but no.  We have to wait until the 18th of October for that.  Dr. Yu said that I am allowed to start feeding him solids today if I want to as long as I am super careful not to let the spoon get to the back of his mouth.  I'm going to try some oatmeal.  I think he will love it.  We'll start the Baby Led Weaning and stop the mush after his next checkup in October.  Dr. Yu said if everything looks fine then, then Ian will be considered all healed and ready for anything.

*An added note about baby led weaning* The method has been around for ages, but the term was coined by the author of the book who is from the UK. There, and in other parts of the world, weaning is meant by the introduction of solid foods whereas here in America we use it to mean the subtraction of milk feeds. Basically to do it you offer the baby a healthy variety of foods and he feeds his own self from the very beginning. In that way it is baby led instead of the parent leading with the spoon. As the baby's ability to eat grows and they finally realize it not only tastes good, but it also fills the belly, then they take in more and more food and then, in time, less milk. Make sense?

In just the last few days, if he sits just right, he can sit up on his own for a few seconds.  He loves jumping in the jumper thing and the Johnny Jump Up.  He also likes toys that makes sounds and music, the mobile, the playgym, and anything else he can grab ahold of with his little no no's on.  He is super social and will smile and cackle at anyone who pays him any attention.  He also really loves being outside.  Like super loves.  But far and away his favorite "things" are his brothers.  His affection for them runs deep.


Ian and Micaiah on the day we brought Ian home (with a great shot of that ol' yucky tube)

Ian and Micaiah now.  What a difference 6 months makes!