I can’t believe Theo has been here for as long as he was cooking in my belly. Blows. my. mind. Everything has gone by so fast and he’s turning into his own little person with a huge personality. There’s so many new things we use daily but below are our top favorites!
Sleeping
Theo started sleeping through the night around 2 months, and then by the time he was 4 months he went through the dreaded sleep regression combined with 4 new teeth at once. Miserable! He’s gotten a lot better but still wakes up to nurse at night. It doesn’t bother me since 99% of the time he falls right back to sleep after. I know we could cut out the night feed if we wanted, but for now it’s what works best for us. Establishing a bedtime routine was key. We start it around 7:30pm and aim for him to be sleeping by 8pm. He then wakes up between 1-3am to eat and then wakes up between 7-7:30am for the day.
At 7:30pm Drew brings him upstairs to start his routine. Sometimes it starts with a bath (depending on how messy dinner was) but most nights he puts lotion on (which we never skip because it keeps his eczema at bay), followed by pjs and reading books. Drew also plays music during this time and it lets Theo know it’s time to wind down. We make sure the room is as dark as possible and then turn his sound machine on. This one is our favorite. We use this one in the room and this one for traveling. We then put this sleep sack on and then turn on Lullaby Baby playlist on Spotify. I then nurse him for his last feeding and he usually falls asleep pretty quickly. If not, Drew will rock him for a few minutes and then he’s out.
He takes two naps during the day. He first one is around 9am and his second at 2pm. When we started unswaddling him and transitioned to a sleep sack, often times he’d wake up right after his first sleep cycle ended and it meant his naps were only 20-30 mins. I wanted to try a dock a tot, but didn’t want to spend almost $200 if it wasn’t going to work for him, so I did some research and found this version of a baby lounger. Much cheaper but the exact design of the dock-a-tot. We started using this and it snuggles him in tight and his naps are at least an hour now. (Obviously do your own research about baby loungers and co-sleepers to determine if they are right for you. I know the risk of SIDS and didn’t feel comfortable using them when he was smaller, but now they work for us.)
Feeding
Once Theo turned 6 months old we got the go ahead from his pediatrician to start foods. I had done a lot of research about purees vs. solid foods and discovered Baby Led Weaning. This is a method of introducing food that allows your baby to feed themselves from the start. No purees or mashes, they start with solid table food cut into strips that they are able to maneuver to their mouths independently. It doesn’t require teeth and allows baby to decided when they are full vs. being forced a set amount. Also don’t be confused by the term “weaning”. The phrase Baby Led Weaning refers to weaning onto foods, not weaning off of breastmilk or formula. Breastmilk or formula is still their main source of nutrition! I am in no way an expert at this, so always do your own research but I can’t recommend it enough! This Feeding Littles course is a great resource and taught me so much. It provides information on choking vs. gagging (which will happen in the beginning) and gave me the confidence that he could eat with only a few teeth. (Many babies do it with no teeth!) They also provide grocery lists and ways to prepare the foods. I follow them on instagram for food inspiration and grocery hauls. And they also have a private Facebook group for people that have taken the course which is full of a ton of insight! Theo’s favorite food right now is pizza-can you blame him?! He mostly just loves licking the sauce, but it’s so fun to watch him explore new foods.
Theo is still exclusively breastfed and if you remember he pretty much refused to take a bottle. I can count on one hand the number of times he took a bottle, so when our pediatrician said we could start testing out a straw cup I was all game. Prior to this, anytime I drank out of a straw, Theo was fascinated and would grab for it and try to suck on it himself. I bought this cup for him and put an ounce of water in it to start. It took him maybe two tries and then he sucked the water down. AND NOW HE’LL DRINK MILK FROM IT TOO! It’s a whole new world over here. I linked some of my favorite feeding products below including first utensils, our multi-use high chair cover, snacks, and dinner ideas.
Play
Once Theo started crawling around 8 months, I had some serious work cut out for me. He was so eager to go at first that he would stumble over his hands and smack his head on the floor. We have hardwood all downstairs which is where he typically plays- so I needed a softer solution (or he was about to wear a helmet 24/7). I found this mat which is extra thick and this one which is reversible. We use both, in different rooms and I love them. We bought this gate to fence in the mats so if I had to put him down for a second or run into another room he would be okay for a few minutes. I love it because you can use it multiple ways, and the bottom corners actually convert into stakes so you can stick it in the lawn if you’re outside.
We’re definitely believers in less is more when it comes to toys. We try and follow the Montessori method of learning and let Theo explore his environment on his own, so most often he wants to help or play with whatever you are doing- which most times isn’t a toy. If you’re cleaning, he wants to hold the swiffer or if you are cooking he wants a spatula too. He has toys too of course and I’ve linked a few of our favorites below. Often when there are toys all over the floor we notice he wouldn’t ever play with them, but come crawling over to us and whine. Once I tried just a few toys out at a time, we noticed a huge difference. The room was less overwhelming (for us too) and he would actually sit and play by himself. So now we rotate toys to only have a few in his play space at once. Once he’s a toddler, there is a Montessori school we plan to enroll him in so I’ll post an update when the time comes.
Shopping
Shopping for him is always tricky, but now that I’ve found a few good places it’s fun! I am SO picky when it comes to his clothes. I hate anything with logos or big graphics which unfortunately is on 90% of boy clothes. Why?! My favorite place to shop for him is H&M, Zara, BabyGap and then a few small instagram shops I’ll link below. Carter’s selection is getting better too. They have some good basics that I usually buy every few months when he outgrows his current size. I always get questions about his hats from this shop. The quality is amazing and they fit so well. These are our favorite shoes and the only ones that actually stay on in my opinion. And last but not least this is our favorite shampoo hands down. Sounds weird to have a favorite shampoo for a 9 month old, but when he has a lot of hair- it matters! Plus it smells like a delicious little baby. I literally smell his head all night after we bathe him!
If I left anything out, feel free leave a comment or send me a message!
Now it’s time to start planning his 1st birthday (insert crying face) I am not ready…
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