Oh my God! The fifth month already here? And it feels like yesterday we came back from the hospital. That little fragile bundle that fits in your one hand… We miss those days. Well, not really but we sure miss some low-risk moments when she couldn’t move that much
If you’re just starting with discovering all the charms of parenting, we suggest you start with an article about the first month of newborn’s life. Or you can check previous months that you can find in the First year of child’s life category.
Sleeping? Who needs sleep when you can play and explore!
As we already talked in What to expect from the baby in the Fourth month, there are some drastic changes in sleeping patterns. Good news is that dreaded wonder week is gone and with it its C’s. Well, at least one C (crying) is gone. Clinginess and Crankiness are still here but I guess that’s just part of the charming personality of our little princess.
But back to the point. So compared to the last month, night sleeping patterns are more stable. She can sleep good 10 hours with a few short wakings for feeding. But not everything is perfect. Sometimes she takes her time and won’t fall asleep for a few hours after her usual bedtime. The riskiest period is the first hour of sleep where if she wakes, there is no going back to sleep that soon.
Our little pumpkin is famous from the birth for her power naps. Sometimes she sleeps for 15 to 20 minutes and wakes full of energy like she slept a whole night! You may understand how tedious that can be when it’s time for bed, and you also want to get some sleep and she is ready to play.
But the real problem became sleeping through the day. If she manages to get 2 hours through the day, that is a success! And worst of all, there is absolutely no way to get her to sleep after 3 PM. And being awake until 7 or 8 PM really brings out the full potential of Crankiness and Clinginess.
Our secret weapon until now – going out for a stroll is useless. Can’t remember the last time she slept in her stroller. Now she just wants to be carried and watch the world around her. No matter how sleepy she is. Nope. No sleeping outside.
Rock’n’roll
Remember those beautiful days when you could leave your baby anywhere? Cute little helpless bundle! Well, remember those days with nostalgia – it’s time to move, baby! Pun intended.
So, last month our girl learned to roll on her tummy and we thought that’s so cool. She is ahead of the curve! Now she learned to roll back and that means trouble. With her newfound mobility, she started to roll everywhere. She hit her head soooo many times in that process that we already stopped hyperventilating on every “thump”. She is taking it like a champ though, continuing her exploration quest with not even a slight cry. Thankfully, baby head is anatomically prepared for lots of bumps in this first year.
It is of course, not enough to roll just during your waking hours, you must do so even in your sleep. Practice makes perfect! And mommy and daddy really like to serve as a punching bag. I swear, some nights I found her in ten different positions, constantly shuffling around. Thankfully, when baby starts to roll by herself, it’s not that dangerous to sleep on her tummy. Even though it’s recommended that babies sleep on their backs because of the SIDS till one year, after 4 months the risk is diminished. When she rolls by herself, her muscles are strong enough that she can get herself from the dangerous position if she needs to. And besides, you can’t really turn her every 10 minutes.
There is one more funny thing you can look forward to – baby eating her toes! When you see it for the first time it’s really somewhat gross (Foot in the mouth? Yucky!) but in a cute way. But besides the great picture moment, it’s an important milestone. Pulling her legs up will lengthen those lumbar muscles and prepare her for sitting. And besides, oral fixation is still going strong. It’s so important for the development of your baby to explore the world with her senses. And the mouth is the most important sensory organ at the moment! So there will be chewing. And sometimes you will leave everything chewable at home. Yikes! Not to worry, toes are always there – portable and reasonably clean. And you thought that’s yucky!
Be prepared for some familiar syllables
She said mama! Or more likely ma-ma-ma-ma
Every parent wait for that magical moment to hear their beloved child address them for the first time. Mama! Dada! Such a sweet sound (for a first few hundred times)! You can expect to hear it soon. Baby starts to say syllables more often – ba, ma, ga, da, la. And now she also starts to repeat them, so by pure coincidence words like mama and dada will pop up. This type of language is called canonical babbling and it’s an important step in the speech development. It can start anytime from 4 to 10 months.
It sounds so realistic! One afternoon our baby girl was repeating mama, mama, mama all the time – so cool! It’s important to know though, that cool as it may be, it’s not an actual word. Baby says many things, most of which is nonsense, but we pay attention to those things that we recognize. You can expect real first word when the baby is between 11 and 13 months. By real, we mean she will know what does it mean and she will say it intentionally.
One more thing you’ll probably notice in this period is a “blowing raspberries”. Baby will experiment with many different sounds and those wet sounding will be especially fun. Prrrrr! Prepare tissues.
Dangers of the fifth month: How ordinary hair can be dangerous
Just so you don’t think how everything is fine and dandy, let me tell you about the dangerous situation we faced. One that can easily happen to you too.
You probably noticed how your baby’s motor skills improved a lot! Yay! And how she likes to grab (and put in her mouth!) all things that come near her? Booo! And you probably know how it’s not that simple to hug your baby anymore because she just likes to get hold of your hair and won’t let go. We lost a lot of hair in the last month or two… But did you know how simple hair can be dangerous?
One afternoon we noticed how our girl is clingier and fussier than usual. Thank god we noticed something weird (by pure accident) around her finger. One hair wrapped around her finger so tight it almost cut through her skin. And her finger was becoming redder by the minute! The hair was so deep between the skin of her chubby little finger that it was a miracle we managed to remove it. It took some real effort and tools to get rid of that hair. It cut so deep that she had the mark around her finger for the next three days.
Later, we read some stories where children almost lost their finger due to a simple hair. So that is not so rare after all. If your baby is anything like ours, keep this in mind! Examine all fingers (hands and legs) regularly for that pesky hair. They could be dangerous!
And that’s it for the fifth month. Many things happened but we have a hunch next month will bring even more. So stay tuned for the sixth month of baby’s life.
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