Baylor Graham | 4 months
four months.. already!! I can’t believe its been four months since we welcomes Baylor into our family, but all that has happened over the last 16 weeks, it also seems like his first few days at home was so long ago! one thing is for sure, he 100% belongs in our crew and is such a light to our lives!! I always Said Brady was the most expressive babe, but Baylor’s eyebrows and facial expression are off the charts!
we went for our four month well check last week. our healthy baby boy is tipping the scales at almost 17 pounds! definitely my biggest baby to date.. the twins weighed as much as he does now at one year- ha! after struggling with RSV from weeks 2 through 6 (he got it back to back and the second time around he was admitted to the hospital) his reflux was exacerbated to the point of needing medication. he was constantly congested and snorty; coupled with multiple ear infections due to the fluid hanging out in his ears and the acid in his spit up was causing ulcers in the back of his mouth- GUYS it was a rough go for this little bubba those first couple months!
around 8 weeks he was prescribed Prevacid and it was life changing for Baylor! the medication and a visit to the chiropractor finally helped him to be comfortable, his congestion slowly has resolved and he is far less snorty that ever before and the ear infections have also cleared up! he’s had three over the last three months and we scheduled a visit to the ENT, but have put it off for now since he’s doing better. I’m so happy and thankful! after Baylor’s well check last week, everything looks great on his growth charts and trending in the right direction.
Baylor at FOUR months
E A T
Baylor is eating every three hours during the day and we dropped the overnight feeding around 2 months. I can tell when he’s going through a growth spurt because he will wake around 4am wanting to eat, so I will feed him and lay him back down, to which he will sleep until around 7am when I wake him up to take the girls to school. I have found that if he eats on schedule during the day it helps him tremendously to sleep through the night. so even when we are out an about and we’re approaching the 3 hour mark I make plans to stop and feed him, even if he’s not acting like he’s hungry.
dairy free
I’ve been dairy free since Baylor was about 8 weeks and it has helped tremendously in subsiding his reflux in addition to his daily medication. his face has completely cleared up from baby acne, too! he had a terrible case and I can tell when I’ve accidentally had some kind of dairy because he will still break out on his cheeks and down his neck.
that being said, I am pretty strict with what I’m eating and really stick to whole foods and very little packaged items because it seems like dairy is in EVERYTHING. I, personally, have also benefited from decreasing my dairy intake- I usually have terrible gut issues after having abdominal surgery (c-section) and this time around all that has gotten better much sooner than ever before! so I plan to keep up a moderately dairy free diet once Baylor is done nursing. I miss cheese and yogurt SO much and the alternatives are not pleasant tasting to me, so I would rather just cut them out completely.
the pedi gave us the go-ahead to start solids if we wanted. I waited until 6 months with Brady, so I think I’ll probably wait a little longer before going with a few bites of cereal to start working on motor function. I feel motivated to make his baby food this time around and sort of a mix in solids and puree’s for the first couple months and then move into more solid foods after that. I did a mixture with Baker and Brady this way and they both did really well with it. not true BLW, but it worked for us.
P L A Y / D E V E L O P M E N T
we are all smiles.. and he’s even let out a tiny baby giggle a time or two, but I’m still waiting patiently for the belly laugh to burst from his sweet little mouth. those are my favorite.. and it seems like all five of my kids have been delayed in the laughing department 🙂 Baylor smiles in response to anyone saying hello and talking to him in a sweet voice. he especially loves looking and ‘chatting’ with his sisters, miss Baker Bree is is with him all day long and the moment Baker comes near or he hears her voice he lights up and starts searching for her until she gets close enough for him to be able to focus on her. she scoops him up and pure joy spreads across his little face. Brady is all over him ALL the time and he’s such an amazing sport about it, hardly seems bothered by the smothering kisses and hugs he gives.
Baylor is VERY social! he usually spends about 30 minutes of his awake time doing tummy time on on his play mat and has a newly discovered love for Sophie the giraffe. lots of coo’s and shouts when some one is holding him- he loves to chat and its the cutest thing ever. this social characteristic also means that Baylor hates the car seat. like, SO much. he doesn’t cry much more than a little fussing.. until we stick him in the carseat!! sometimes he’ll give me about 20 minutes in the car before he’s done done done with it and starts his scream/cry/sob, and other times he starts the fuss as I’m buckling him in. I’ve tried everything from hanging toys to a pacifier and nothing works. Parker sits diagonal to him and he can see her and she will occasionally sing to him and keep his attention, which has proven to be the only thing that will chill him out.
I was reading the wonder weeks app the other morning while feeding Baylor and it mentioned that he’s in his fourth developmental leap. this leap includes grasping and being able to see longer distances. he’s been working hard to grab toys and bring them to his mouth along with recognizing his mama, dad, and siblings, making eye contact from across the room. he is nearly rolling over to his tummy.. hanging out on his side mostly during playtime. we are also starting to scoot around- he scoots himself all over the place and a time or two I’ve found him about two feet away from the play mat where I left him, ha! get a move on, brother!
Other developments..
–hands! he’s basically stuffing his entire fist in his mouth. there is also the DROOL thats coming along with stuffing one’s hand in his mouth. his gums seem to be so swollen so I won’t be surprised if we see a tooth or two on the bottom come in sooner than later.
–blowing spit bubbles + playing with his tongue! he sticks his little tongue out all the time and it is ADORABLE. I’m following along with his milestones on my Wonder Weeks app. which by the way, if you don’t have this app, you need it.
–mimicking sounds. Baylor totally tries to mimic his sisters and follows their lead when they make the ‘oohhhh’ sound.
–he bats at the hanging toys and will even shake his toys that make noise. we are slowly but surely working on holding objects, but we really need to get him more toys.. Brady like to hand him his toy cars and say “there you go, baby doll” and get so excited when he grasps them out from his hand.
S L E E P
ah, sleep! we were not getting very much from about the age of 2 weeks to 7 weeks with Baylor. aside from the normal newborn wake sleep cycle, he was so sick and we were up all night with his breathing issues on top of pretty much sleeping sitting up in the recliner when he finally slept. once RSV was fully out of his system he still wouldn’t sleep any other way but in our arms and around the same time I got an email from Tiffany of eat play sleep training . I’ve never had interest in sleep training an infant but I was running on about 1-2 hours of consistent sleep at night and decided to give it a try. with her help I finally was able to break Baylor of having to sleep while being held AND he started napping like a champ AND sleeping through the night on his own! 
my biggest concern when working with a sleep trainer was actually following through with what she was suggesting to do when it came to keeping him in his crib all night. so, for my own sanity, I started really focusing on the daytime routine to ease into it slowly.. making sure he was eating at the same time everyday and taking his naps at the same time everyday. we were kind of put into routine jail, but essentially putting Baylor on such a strict daytime routine sort of allowed him to fall into the evening/overnight routine on his own! when we started with Tiffany, Baylor wasn’t napping hardly at all and would cat nap here and there in his swing or while in the carrier or the carseat. Tiffany taught me so much, even this being my fifth baby, there were still things I have found so valuable to truly knowing the pattern of sleep Baylor is on.
Baylor’s Sleep Scheduled from newborn to 3 months (we started at 7 weeks)
7am – EAT then PLAY
745/8 – 10am – SLEEP
10am – EAT then PLAY
1045/11-1pm – SLEEP
1pm – EAT then PLAY
145/2pm – SLEEP
4pm – EAT then PLAY
5-6pm – Catnap Sleep – SLEEP
* Bath *
630/7pm – EAT/BED (Feed then straight to bed. No Play time at this feed)
10/1030 or 11pm – DREAMFEED
as you can see, Baylor wasn’t awake longer than an hour at a time and he would sleep 2-3 hours in between his feedings. putting him on this daytime schedule was VERY important and took about a 3-4 days for him to fall into a routine and around the same time he started sleeping through the night. Baylor learned to lay down awake within this time frame (with very little crying, although he did indeed cry occasionally) and teaching him this ability to self soothe has been a game changer when I have four other babes I need to get into bed as well.
we just moved to this schedule (about a week ago) with Tiffany’s help and guidance. Baylor has been able to stay awake longer as he’s gotten older- he is okay going 1.5-2 hours in between his naps and I no longer offer a dream feed. we are also in the process of dropping the swaddle! Tiffany suggests to no longer swaddle by 3-4 months, 4 months at the latest! Tiffany gave us a couple options for how we can do this and I think we are going to do it cold turkey- going straight from swaddling both arms to a sleep sac.
Baylor’s Sleep Schedule at 4 months
7am – FEED then PLAY
845/9 – 11am – SLEEP
11am – FEED then PLAY
1-3pm – SLEEP
3pm – FEED then PLAY
5/515/530-6/630pm – SLEEP (Catnap)
645/7pm – FEED then Straight to bed
we will change his sleep schedule again around 6 months to include solid foods and again around 9-8 months! I swear, even as a seasoned mama, this sleep stuff is stressful and such a foreign routine to walk through because its been different with every baby!
another month has quickly passed us by- Baylor’s sparkling bright eyes and the animation that fills his face when he locks eyes with someone he loves (especially his older sisters) is just nothing that can be put into words. this month has been A BLAST- and I feel like we are finally into a solid groove with five babes. as much as I miss his teeny newborn self, I have really enjoyed experiencing Baylor’s growth, development, and explosion of personality! This sweet boy is basically smiling 100% of the time. As if his gummy grin from ear to ear isn’t enough- his smiling eyes will get you right in the feels.
Goodness I.love.him.
May 10, 2019
Have you tried a convertible car seat versus a bucket seat? Sometimes that can help them to be happier? ????
Yes, actually! We moved both Brady and Baker around 3-4 months to the convertible carseat and have ordered Baylor’s seat already. Great idea!
I have so many questions, but I guess my biggest one is how did you stick to such a strict routine and still leave the house for errands or activities with you other babes??
Its not that strict of a routine, and babies thrive on consistency- so I make it important, especially in the early weeks and months to build that for them. I make Baylor’s first nap of the morning a priority, mostly because its his longest nap of the day and if I have errands to run or we have plans (which we usually do) his second or third nap end up being in the carseat or me carrying him in the sling.
Thank you so much for the sleep training explanation. I’m a mom of 6, but I’ve only recently started to hear the expression “sleep training”. After reading your explanation, I realize it’s what I’ve always done! From day one with my first baby (he’s now 24), I started a very strict schedule/routine and did not vary EVER. People used to think I was a little nuts, but were also always amazed that my babies slept through the night (11 pm – 7 am) from just a few weeks old. I had no idea that what I was doing had a name! I’ve always said that getting babies on a schedule from the very beginning was the best gift parents can give themselves…I’m glad to know this game changer has made such an impact on so many!
AMEN!! when you have multiple at different ages it offers such awesome consistency for everyone, making a happy house 🙂
Love the update! He is such a cutie! I am a first time mom with a 3 month old baby boy! He is up every 1-1.5 hours during the night, too. And capnaps during the day as well. I have been looking into sleep training options and you seem to have success with it. I hope this isn’t too personal of a question, but I was wondering if the program you followed was super expensive? I would love to try it. So sleep deprived!
Hey! since your babe is already 3 months, it typically only takes about 2 weeks for Tiffany to assist and it is $399 for full access 🙂 Honestly it was VERY worth it to use because he was not sleeping AT ALL and I had to still function with the other 4 babes in the house!
Hi!
Love your blog and Instagram!
I just started cutting dairy to see if that will help with my baby’s reflux, fussiness and congestion. I’ve read it can take 3 weeks to full get out of your system. How long would you say it took to see the benefits for you and Baylor?
a combination of the medication and the dairy free diet we found true noticeable relief after about a week to 10 days.
I just wanted to say Thank You for the referral of the Wonder Weeks app in this post! My baby is about to be 26 weeks and reading through where she’s at in her development has really helped me cope and be more sympathetic to her, where I was getting so frustrated trying to figure out why she was so fussy. This post came at such the perfect time! Thank you ????????
Hey amber! I’ve been following you for awhile so I know each of the kids feeding journeys were a little bit different. Since you want to try BLW again I would really suggest this course called Feeding Littles! My son refused all purées – even homemade, so I took this course in a desperate attempt and it was a god send. My sons 13 months now and he eats everything from seafood to even curry! They even have a toddlers course, which I’m taking now and it has so much great advice. They’re short online videos and self-paced so you can do them whenever and you get to keep it for forever. They also talk about modified BLW since that’s what you want to do with Baylor 🙂
The sleep training was so helpful, I do have questions about his reflux?
feel free to email me! ambermariemassey@gmail.com
You are rocking this mom of 5. I could see you adding another to your clan really 🙂