Five Months Old

Nicole turned five months old this week (remember what she looked like at two months old? I could go on and on about “where has the time gone” and “blink of an eye” etc.)! Breastfeeding continues to go extremely well. I’d tell you how often she feeds except I have no idea! I nurse her whenever and wherever she needs it, and she might go anywhere from five minutes to three hours between nursing sessions. I know for certain she gets up an average of twice per night, unless she’s sick with a cold and then it might be three to four times.

We are still exclusively breastfeeding if you don’t count the one time I let her suck on an apple core and her dad let her suck on a pineapple slice! (Not something I recommend by the way, as the American Academy of Pediatrics advises waiting six months to introduce solid foods). As you can see she can sit up now (one of the signs of readiness for solid foods) and she’s definitely showing interest (hence the few licks of apple and pineapple!) but I will wait at least another month before officially starting solids. She remains in the 80 to 85th percentile for weight and length on the WHO growth charts. No one has suggested she start solids but I always keep in mind what my friend said upon being told that her exclusively-breastfed four-month-old needed to start solids due to his weight: “Well, how do you think he got this big in the first place?”