Austin – Month 4

Austin – Month 4

Austin is now 4 months old. The last month seems to have flown past with him developing lots of new skills and loads of personality traits coming through. In the last couple of weeks he has become a bit more clingy – often crying if I put him down and leave a room, which has been a bit challenging but as soon as I pick him up again he’s fine, so I know there’s nothing seriously wrong.

He’s had to go back the hospital for a follow-up. They have prescribed him a low-level antibiotic for 28 days as a precaution, so he’s been taking that. We’ve got to take him back to the hospital in the next few weeks for another follow-up and some additional tests. But we have submitted another urine sample and it’s come back clear of infection, which is great news.

Sleeping

Generally, he’s still sleeping really well. I would like him to wake up a bit later in the morning. It’s a bit hit and miss – some days it can be 6.30am, some days it’s nearer to 5am. He’s really no problem in the evening when we come to put him to bed. At the most, he’ll whine for a minute or two once he’s put to bed, but most nights he just falls straight to sleep.

He’s napping really well and is pretty much clockwork in terms of naps. If we are at home, he’ll have three naps, with the lunchtime one being at least an hour, sometimes two. Then two ½ an hour naps. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. If we are out and about, he will sleep in the car seat and then he just naps around this. He’s pretty consistent, needing a nap every 2 hours from when he last woke up.

Feeding

He’s absolutely mastered the dream feed at 10 – 11pm and he’ll finish most of the bottle and go back to sleep no problem. I’m trying to stretch him out to around 4 hours between feeds during the day. He’s now taking between 5 – 6 feeds a day and up to 8oz on each feed. Generally, on the days where he has that extra feed, he usually doesn’t finish all of his milk at each feed, when he just had the 5, he does.

Nappies

Nappy changing all the time continues to be a distant memory. We are using Pampers size 2 during the day and size 3 overnight as we’ve had a few leaks with the size 2. He’ll soon be in size 3s during the day as he’s started to fill out and I don’t think they’ll be fitting for too much longer. I have got some Aldi size 3s to try as well as they are supposed to be very good and they are a lot cheaper than Pampers.

Mental Development

He’s definitely developed his own little personality traits. He is quite impatient when it comes to feeding and being in his car seat. He’s very chatty and talks a lot to me, his Dad, his grandparents, his Aunties, Uncles – anyone who will listen – including his toys. He has one toy, called Munchie the Caterpillar, who gets the brunt of his conversations including sometimes being shouted at, if he’s not doing what Austin wants. It’s very funny to watch.  

We’ve started going to baby classes. We’ve been doing a sensory class and a music/singing one. He seems a bit confused by the sensory class. It’s a very busy class and so I think he gets a bit distracted by all the people and also a bit upset if there are other babies crying near him. He loves the music and singing class. It’s a much smaller class and the pace is gentler and he seems to love the activities.

Physical Development

He’s really started filling out. I no longer have the problem of trousers falling down his bottom. But he does seem to be growing out of clothes at a speedy rate. I already have a whole box full of clothes he no longer fits in.

He’s made a huge jump physically and he’s now able to roll over. He’s only able to do it from being on his front but he’s got good strength and call roll both ways. He’s also started to sit up when he is being supported lightly across the back. He’s a way off sitting up unsupported yet, but it’s made me start sorting out a high chair for him. Some days he only wants to be upright and gets quite ratty if he is put down flat and can’t see what is going on. So we do a lot of walking around with him upright and he sits on our laps a lot too. He has to lump it when he’s in his pram as he’s still too little to change over to the stroller.

He’s much more able to control his hands now and purposefully grabs at items. He really enjoys playing with his baby gym and grabbing at the hanging parts. He’s also got some other toys which he grabs and of course, they now go straight into his mouth. His two white bumps in his month have been joined by two more. Some days he’s been very dribbly and quite clearly he’s been a bit uncomfortable with them. I have no idea how long it will take before they pop through, but the two original white bumps are very prominent and feel like they might pop through any day.

Stay tuned for further developments and updates.

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