I am so confused by this whole week/month age thing. Last week Rowan technically turned 4 months (Sept. 12th to Jan. 12th) but as far as weeks go- she has been alive 18 weeks. Which when you think about it- one would think is more than 4 months. So which is it? What is it that you say? Someone please fill me in.
We had our 4 month appointment last week. She got a couple shots in her legs and got checked all over. She is our little growing machine. Growin’ Rowan as we like to call her. She weighted 15lbs 11oz. which put her in the 90% and her height put her in the 95%. haha. She is so tall. She hardly fits length wise in any of her 3 month clothes anymore. haha. But then again she looks ridiculous in 6m ones because they are too big. Doh!
I feel like in the last week she has learned so much! She can almost roll over from her back to her belly now. She twists all around on her play mat so she can reach for toys she likes. We had her in bed the other morning with us and she dropped Sophie down beside her. She couldn’t reach it anymore and we watched her figure out how she could move her body and arm together to flip and pull the sheet so the toy would comes closer to her. It was amazing. She was learning right before our eyes.
She also has learned her first game. She does this thing now when you hold her, she holds her hand out to you and she wants you to pretend to eat her fingers. She gets so excited when you do it. haha. It’s so cute. She just keeps putting her hand out for you to do it again and again. She loves it.
We still swaddle her when she sleeps (naps and at bedtime). How long did you use a swaddle? We use the velcro kind, so I don’t know when its time to stop swaddling because she can’t break out of it. I am afraid to not use it though. I know she wont sleep as good. She sleeps so good for us and I am a little scared to give that up. How did you ween off the swaddle?
We also get to start feeding her Rice cereal!! So excited!! We will be sure to document it. I know it will be hilarious.
Rowan is wearing:
Sweater: thrifted by my Mom
Jean Skirt: H&M
Tights: Gift from my sister
this little baby gets cuter every week, those legs!
I go from date to date not by weeks. Also my little girl is in the same situation as little Rowan. She can’t fit into 3 months but the 6 months are still too big haha! Oh and we stopped swaddling at like 2.5 months because she would always come undone anyhow and she would just get mad lol.
Rowan seriously gets cuter every single week. She is so adorable!
Such a cutie pie! I really love the way you’ve been dressing Rowan.
I don’t think I’ve commented very often but when you asked about swaddling I just wanted to put in my two cents (which you can feel free to ignore! this is just what worked for me!). I swaddled my first two kids as long as I could, which was almost a year. Granted, after a few months their arms don’t stay in very well, heck, nothing stays in very well, but it usually works well enough to get them to sleep well. My grandma did it the same way, as did my mother. I recently heard about this new-ish company called B. B. Sleep Solutions that has lots of information about how to swaddle tightly in the proper way and they sell blankets that have the flannel knap (sp?) on both sides. I never bought anything from them, but I can say that having the flannel on both sides does really help the blanket to stay closed better. Also, having a big enough blanket really helps, too. What I did was just buy thin flannel from a fabric store and cut it as big as I needed and serged the edges (I actually had a friend do that part for me, since she had the machine). Anyway, my babies loved swaddling and I plan on doing it for my third kid, too. Whatever you decide, though, good luck! I know how hard it can be when no one’s getting any sleep, so I hope Rowan keeps sleeping well!
If you want to read more about the company I mentioned, here’s there website:
http://www.bbsleepsolutions.com/
*woops, I meant ‘their’ website… sorry!
That sweater is TOO cute! I love it! She always looks so happy, Jen. 🙂
xo
Jessica @ myloveisgrowing
She is so beautiful! 😀 She looks soo sweet and wow, she’s growing so fast!
Adorable. If you want to “experiment” with giving solids try milk popsicles (we use breast milk but I assume you could use formula)
Here’s the link to it (our son loves them a lot, he’s almost 5 months)
http://ourcherrybaby.blogspot.com/2011/01/popsicles-in-january.html
With my first we would swaddle really tightly with a recieving blanket, by the time he was breaking out of it (4 months) he was starting to roll and be able to lift his head so he would just sleep on his tummy. It was sooooo cute and he would stick his bum way up in the air! I know that it is not “recommended” that babies sleep on their tummies, but I found my kids sleep WAY better that way. That’s just what I did for both my boys and it worked for us.
My little one is 2 weeks younger and we’re in the same boat with swaddles. She is so happy being all bundled up but I feel like eventually she won’t fit into the swaddle (we use the velcro ones too) and she is starting to bust out of them on occasion. Anyways we’ve been putting her down for a nap without a swaddle so maybe that is a good place to start? Just so she gets used to it. Also I know you’ve mentioned she takes long naps. I’d love to know how you do that. I can’t get my little one to sleep more than an hour at nap time. Good luck!
We started counting our daughter’s age by months instead of weeks at about 3 months old. It drives me crazy how pregnant women say that at 36 weeks they’re 9 months pregnant and at 40 weeks they’re 10 months pregnant (I don’t know if you were one of these women since I am a recent reader of your blog) because, as you can see, months obviously have more than 4 weeks in them!
Our daughter, too, loved to be swaddled. We started breaking her of it at about 4 months by leaving one arm out until she was used to it. Then we’d leave both arms out. Then gradually we’d just pretend to put the swaddle on. It worked best once she’d learned to roll over ’cause then she slept on her tummy. As long as they’re rolling over the SIDS risk decreases…you can’t “make” them sleep on their back anyways once they’ve learned how to roll over, so if they prefer to sleep on their tummy, let them!
she is super cute!!!
i never kept track of the weeks for daughter Lilly Nicole, my husband does but when some one asks i just say she’s 2yrs old. He would say 2 yrs and 5 mons… anyways love that you share motherhood on your blog!!
What a cutie!! I was wondering the same thing about dates…my little girl turned 12 weeks on Saturday, but will be 3 months this coming Saturday…so confusing!
Our ped said to stop swaddling when she starts to roll…I doubt we’ll actually stop then since our little one sleeps best swaddled, too, but she said it’s a good rule of thumb. I figure it’s better for them to get sleep than to not sleep though and we’ll see when the time comes. 😉
We stopped swaddling when The Pup figured out how to go from back to front–which happened fast, and meant that we had to go cold turkey on the swaddling. It sucked! But only for about a week, and then he discovered that he could sleep on his side, which made him really happy. If we ever do this whole baby thing again, I’ll definitely be “weaning” from the swaddle as soon as I see any hints of rolling. We do, however, still put The Pup in a sleep sack for bed–so much better than a blanket, as it won’t fall off. And, it’s just constricting enough that he can’t crawl or pull up without a bit of work–for example, I’m pretty sure he would have tried to crawl out of the crib already, but he can’t put his legs that high with the sack on. The grobag sacks are THE BEST!
And I so desperately want to pinch those little thighs. What a cutie!
What a doll! I stopped swaddling my little boy when he was older because we stumbled on the miracle of swaddling late in the game. He was almost a year! I took a sheet of mine that smelled like me and wrapped him up in it and secured it with diaper pins. We didn’t stop swaddling until he made a fuss about it and we took our cue from him.
Hey Jen, I just wanted to weigh in on the swaddling question. Claire was swaddled until the week before her first birthday. I was thinking that she was just going to need to be swaddled forever. We used the velcro blankets as well and had to buy the large size because she outgrew the newborn one and still couldn’t fall asleep on her own. I would try once and a while just to see if she could fall asleep on her own but she would just play with her hands in bed because it was just too exciting to have her hands free. She would play so long that she would get overtired and be too miserable to fall a sleep and then I would have to live with a cranky baby who didn’t nap for the rest of the day. When she was 11months old she started to get really mad when I swaddled her. She didn’t like having her arms tied down and would fight sooo hard until her arms were free. As with any parenting mystery I try to read Claires cues to figure what the next step should be. So I kept swaddling her at bed time just so i would keep her bedtime routine the same because it was working great and i let her make the changes. I started to let her break out of the blanket and it took a few days of playing in bed for awhile but she learned how to fall asleep on her own and she got better at it within a week or two.
Anyways I hope this is helpful. I know every baby is so different so I just wanted to share what worked for us. I guess the short answer is that she will probably grow out of it when she’s ready.
She’s so adorable!
Technically a month is 4 weeks 4 days (on average) The only month that is exactly 4 weeks is February. Thats how you get 4 months = 18 weeks… 4.4weeks times 4 months = about 18 (rounded up). Sorry for the nerdy comment! haahaa I’m pregnant and couldn’t figure out the weeks to months calculation either… because 40 weeks seems like 10 months so I researched it!!
cute… i really look forward to your posts on rowan. 🙂
awww how cute is she? What a little sweetheart!!
On swaddling, we just swaddled till they could roll over on their own, because then it’s dangerous. But I think swaddling becomes less of a big deal as their jerk reflex settles down, and they stop waking themselves up, you know?
Meanwhile, good luck on the rice cereal! We ended up waiting till 6mths with both our kids because they both got upset stomachs at 4mths – but it really is sooooo fun!! I can’t believe she’s getting this old!! xoxo
Oh my goodness those cheeks and that smile! You are certainly blessed.
We love Sleep Sacks! I have a 6-month-old. I’m so impressed that you are out running… wow!
Just a comment on the swaddle for you. I also have a 4 month old baby. We were worried about taking her out of the swaddle for sleeping. A few mom friends recommended the Magic Sleep Suit to help the switch. It worked like a charm! Sure it looks a bit like a sumo suit, but our little girl no longer needs a swaddle and is nice and warm at night in the suit. It muffles all the twitches and helps her sleep.
What a face! Congratulations, she’s beautiful!
I love Rowan’s tights. I’m having a little girl in May and went a little nuts with the tights and socks last night while shopping.
About the age thing….4 even weeks do not make up a month. For example, I’m 25 weeks pregnant. If I just divided that by 4, I’d be considered 6 months pregnant but that would be absolutely incorrect. I conceived in August so if we count from my date of conception, I’m actually 5 months pregnant.
Hi:)
Rowan is so so so cute! I think she is so adorable:):):) aww … Here s hoping my next is a girl:)
As for swaddling … My first hated it, even as a newborn. My second we swaddled a long time… He got his arms out but we kept swaddling the lower half. Babies love it to stay warm!!! So yes keep doing it!! I didn’t have the Velcro ones but will this next time… They do come in a LG size so you can keep doing it as long as possible:) and after that maybe either half swaddle in a warm blanket OR use a sleep sack…. Parents swear by them too:) and some keep sleep sacks on till potty training…. Just ideas to help!!!
Best wishes for continued smooth sleeps:)
I love this sweater – it looks just like something you would have worn when you were little. It is amazing to see them learn right before your eyes. How cute that she plays a game with you. The weeks / months thing is weird. When ppl ask me how old is he I say 9 weeks, but then whenever the 30th comes around we will say he’s 2 months old (or whatever)! Idk if that makes any sense. Reminds me of grown ups – did you see that movie? When the little boy is breast feeding and they ask how old he is, the dad answers “he’s 48weeks old” and chris rock says “That’s 4 years old!” Somehow weeks sounds younger or something. haha! I’m also laughing cuz I’m picturing a 4 year old Rowan in a giant swaddle blanket haha! I can’t stop thinking about it and laughing.
By far, my favorite Rowan outfit EVER. I’d kill to have that skirt for my daughter. 😛
She is darling! I can’t wait to meet our little peanut in the coming months. I am 29 weeks along and don’t know the sex of the baby. I honestly don’t think about it, but constantly wonder what our little one will look like. I can’t wait to share the news and photos!
So here’s how it works. With your first child you must state her age in weeks until they are two. With the second kid, you state his/her age in months and with the third kid, you just state his/her birthday and let the interested party figure it out because you’re too busy to keep track any more 😉
(Rowan is soooooo cute!)
oh, she is so sweet… 🙂 & that sweater is adorable!!! it’s so fun to see her growing & learning on your blog…
Wow! She is getting so big! What a little cutie!
You have the sweetest girl! What a cutie. And she is sporting some seriously adorable rose tights.
I felt a little silly after my last comment because once I read your about page I realized you were from Ontario! Silly me. I guess the 10k and the marathon are on different days, but if I see you run by while I stand on the sidelines to cheer for my friend, I will give you a cheer too!
I stopped swaddling just after 4 months – usually with changes I use the rule of 3’s it will probably be bad for 3 nights but (we used CIO) and it worked well – lots of people will swaddle upper body and leave lower body or vice versa
And I went by months since every Minh has different weeks some years have different days etc
I swaddled until 4 months, that’s when she was able to get out of the velcro swaddleme’s.
As far as the weeks, I usually say how many months she is, people who aren’t moms don’t get the whole week to month thing, anyway, so to avoid confusion I say the months…I go by her birthday.
I can’t say enough about the Grobag (sleep sack). We swaddled our daughter for the first 4 months then started using a grobag and it is amazing, she sleeps well and is warm. However her little hands get cold occasionally.
I remember with the first one feeling like I had to pry the “weeks” tag out of my fingers and watch it float away. 🙂 One day, I had to just look the discrepancy in the face and say, “I know he’s technically more than 5 months, but I can’t keep up both ways of counting anymore!” Once you make the switch, it’s fine.
My second one (who will be four in May) was a baby that loved his swaddling. We, too, bought a larger size swaddler and used it until he could move so much, it just didn’t do any good at all anymore. At which point he became attached to a crocheted blanket. I can’t remember exactly at what age, but I remember it was before the age when you are “supposed” to let them sleep with blankets. I justified my decision by convincing myself that it was too loosely woven to be a suffocation hazard. 🙂
Hey Jen, Rowan is so precious! My little bean Ella is just a couple weeks older than yours and we play the hand game too. I call it zombie arms. I hold her and she sticks her arms out straight and i pretend to eat them. She loves it! When it comes to swaddling, Ella grew out of it on her own. She’s been rolling from her back to her tummy for about three weeks. The first time I caught her swaddled, face down in her crib i freaked out and decided that was the end of swaddling. She was also breaking out of the swaddle (velcro ones) in her sleep. I started by swaddling everything but one arm, then left out both arms, and by the end of the week no swaddle. Rowan will likely grow out of it on her own, but rolling around seemed to do it for Ella.
I am so so sorry to be the obnoxious parenting commentor, but the whole rice cereal at 4 mos thing is an outdated idea from the 60s when they didn’t think breastmilk/formula was enough for growing babies (for some reason some American drs still encourage it, though, but their digestive systems aren’t quite up to it until around 6 mos). But, that said, each parent does their own thing, and it probably isn’t a big deal at all if you want to start cereal early (esp. since you’re so excited!)… just wanted to offer the information – I think the Sears Baby Book talks about it. And she’s so adorable! Such a pretty baby girl!
We started rice cereal a few weeks ago (and my baby is a 3 weeks younger than Rowan) and it has been glorious. She was eating around 35 or 40 ounces a day before the rice cereal and now we’re down to 5 6-ounce bottles (two with rice cereal) a day. She’s a big girl like Rowan and that much formula a day was madness.
I used a velcro swaddler as well since my babe would squirm her way out of any blanket, lol.
One night she spit up all over it, and I had to put it in the laundry, the following night I hadn’t had time to wash it, so I put her in a regular sleep sack and prayed. And it all turned out fine, and we haven’t looked back.
Rowan might give cues when she is ready to be without it 🙂
Just found your blog and I love it. Your daughter is GORGEOUS and your style is amazing. I have a baby girl that is a few months older than Rowan and I have been reluctant to put her in dresses and tights until she can stand. I am going to change my policy on that today. 🙂