At week 14, we noticed that when we placed Nate on his back, he would swing his legs and almost turn over onto his side. We also noticed improvement in his motor skills. He got better at grabbing things placed in front of him and bringing them to his mouth. He also seemed to be figuring out how to play with his various toys. For example, he figured out that one of the two toys on his bouncer can be turned sideways where as the other flips up and down.
During week 15, Nate became noticeably more talkative and excitable. He no longer made just one syllable sounds but babbled for extended periods of time, moved his lips and eyes, even changed facial expressions. It also seemed like Nate was starting to make noises to get our attention. When we were not paying attention to him, he would make noises until we looked at him and then he would break out into a smile. He even seemed to play more with his toys when we were beside him and paying attention to him. When we weren’t looking at him, we often found that he would just lay still and watch us quietly until we looked towards his direction or moved towards him, and then he would get really excited and start playing again. It also seemed like Nate was trying hard to sit up. When he sat in his bouncer or swing, or was laid down in the crib, he would strain his neck and shoulders forward as if he wanted to sit up. When we pull gently on his arms, he would sit up but his head still wasn’t quite level with his shoulder and he would fall forward or to the side if he wasn’t supported.
The day that Nate turned 16 weeks old, we happened to be watching Nate sleeping on the video monitor and noticed that he almost rolled over swaddled. Needless to say, mommy was a bit startled and had daddy go in and place a wedge by his side. From then on, we’ve been placing him between the sleep positioner. He still manages to scoot sideways along the crib like a pro but hasn’t rolled over like that again. We noticed also that when we go clap our hands and go to pick him up, he seems to know what we are about to do and he swings his arms outwards.
Nate again explored and experimented with his vocals a lot during week 17. He started off the week with a very soft, gentle and drawn out squeals that sounded like “ahh” but by the end of the week, he let out very short high pitched squeals. I thought it was cute but Brandon seemed to think that I would not find it cute rather quickly, especially when it increased in volume and intensity later on. As far as motor skills are concerned, he noticed his wrist rattle and seemed very comfortable grabbing and bringing toys to his mouth, including the hanging toys on his play mat. Lastly, when we go to pick him up, he now no longer just swings his arms outwards but will hold onto our arms/hands when we lift him up.
Nursing and Eating Solids
At week 15, Nate became much more efficient at nursing and began to average about 15 minutes per nursing session, which was a marked improvement from 40+ minutes even just a few weeks earlier. We also started Nate on rice cereal at week 16. He started eating like a pro right away and turned his head towards the spoon and opened his mouth when he was ready for the next bite. I’m not sure if mixing the rice cereal with breastmilk is helping or if it’s the Asian genes in him, but he hasn’t had trouble with constipation. After just two days of eating solids, he started making “um” sounds every time he took a bite of the cereal and by the fourth day, he was finishing almost all of the cereal in his bowl. Looks like he’s inherited our love for food!
Growth
We visited Nathan’s pediatrician for Nate’s reflux on 2 March and he weighed in at 14 lbs 7 oz., which is a very good pace at his age. It also seemed like Nate went through a growth spurt during week 15 and started wearing 3-6/6 month clothing. Nate started unsnapping one of the snaps on his pajama pant leg when he would stretch and kick so we figured it was time to switch over. Nate also visited the doctor’s office during week 17 for his 4-month vaccinations. He did much better this time compared to two months ago (although the Tylenol we gave him before the shots might have helped) and was laughing and playing by the time we got him into the car and didn’t seem like he was experiencing pain from the shots the rest of the day either.
Acid Reflux
At 14 weeks, Nate’s pediatrician started him on a new acid reflux medication. Nate was taking Pepcid for a while but the doctor seemed to think that Nate had outgrown the medicine and switching him to a different medication, Prevacid (2ml once a day), would work better for Nate. I also decided to try to eliminate dairy from my own diet to see if Nate’s symptoms could be linked to milk allergy. I really tried to avoid going on a dairy-free diet because I’m a cheese head and our pediatrician wasn’t very supportive of the idea either. However, after talking to other moms with similar experiences and not seeing much improvement in Nate with just the medicine, we decided that it would be worth a try. We’re not sure if it was my non-dairy diet or the new medication but by week 15, Nate was eating better and was not crying at the end of every nursing session. He continued to arch his back, vomit and spit up for a little while but noticed that these symptoms were reduced dramatically or were non-existent by week 16.
Wake Times
Nate used to be most interactive in the early morning but starting around week 16, he became calmer in the morning and much more interactive during the late afternoon and early evening hours. By week 17, Nate began lengthening his morning wake times and seemed to be able to last about 1.5 hours at this point. Nate continued to do best with 1.5 hours of wake time for the rest of the day as well. Nate slept like a champ for his naps and as long as he was not overtired going down, he rarely ever fussed or cried anymore.
At week 14, it seemed like Nate was ready to shorten his 3rd/late afternoon nap, which usually began around 5 pm. We weren’t sure what was going on at first and wondered if it was hunger or acid related. We thought it was too soon for him to be shortening his 3rd nap since he had just dropped his 4th nap just a few weeks earlier. After talking to some friends, we were relieved to learn that it wasn’t unusual for babies to drop the 4th nap and then shorten the 3rd nap at about his age. After the shortened nap of about 45 minutes, he stayed up until it was time to nurse again, which was typically around 7 pm, and then went down for the night. He still woke up after 3 ½ hours for another feeding at times but it seemed to be working better overall. Nate continued to take 1.5 to 2 hour naps in the morning and early afternoon.
Swaddling
At week 14, Nate started moving around a lot in the crib during his sleep. Nate often did 90 degree turns in the crib and woke up vertical (or horizontal depending on which way you look at it). He also started breaking out of his swaddle frequently. It made us wonder if we should try unswaddling him again so we decided to give it another try at week 15. However, we found that Nate kept himself up by kicking, clawing at his face and crying and would not settle down to go to sleep. When he did fall asleep, he woke up early and crying. We decided that it would be best to continue to swaddle him for the time being and invest in a larger swaddle blanket.
Funny quirks and other notable
Nate’s always been pretty particular about his likes and dislikes and he’s made it very clear on a few occasions around week 17 that he doesn’t like changes too much. I’ve heard that some babies just “go with the flow” and we’re finding out that Nate doesn’t seem to be one of them. Since it was finally warm enough to actually spend some time outside, Brandon decided to take Nate out onto our front steps for a while. That was the first time he really spent time outside besides the quick to and fro from the car. I guess Nate wasn’t too sure about it because he started to cry right away. Brandon brought him inside and took him out again once he settled down but the results were not much better. It took about three or four days of doing that regularly for Nate to enjoy being outside.
Nate also picked up a new soothing method around week 15 – sucking his lips! Our guess is that because he’s been swaddled and doesn’t have access to his hands, he’s resorted to sucking his upper lip. He is a resourceful little guy! He hasn’t found his thumb yet as we’ve been hoping and he won’t take a pacifier, so we don’t know how to break him of his habit. Hopefully it won’t be a lasting one! That’s all for month 4!
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