6.5 Months

Hello sleepless nights, when I thought there'd be longer lengths of sleep.

Hello separation anxiety, right in time for our trip to Kansas.

Hello little crawler, who also needs to be held in our arms often.

Before Sofia was born, I felt like I needed to read books about how to parent. We tried. As I think I've mentioned before, we started reading a book about Attachment Parenting. It was a bit ridiculous. To us, it all seemed like common sense and almost dumb to need to have parts explained. There were also parts that we weren't sure we agreed with. At that point, we said we weren't prescribing to any parenting style in particular. I would say since Sofia was born, we tend to be attachment parenting. We hold our baby often, we wear her, she's exclusively breast fed, we co-sleep and sometimes she sleeps snuggled in my arms or right up against me. We are not attachment parenting because it's what others are doing. We aren't doing it because we read a book. We are parenting the way we are because it's what feels right. If I've learned one thing about parenting so far, I don't need a book (at least at this point) because I am trusting my instincts and what feels right for us.(When toddlerhood comes we may be singing a different song ;)

So while I wish Sofia was sleeping longer (at least for the first part of the night like she previously had), I understand there are a lot of causes for why she might not be sleeping for extended periods. Sofia is teething (her first cute little tooth is becoming more and more visible each day). She was sick not too long ago. She needed to be on me all night long, as well as me needing her to be there too. We've also been continuing to test foods that she is tolerant of. Some have failed, and her sleep has been affected. Sofia has also become more and more interested in the world. During the day we go for at least 3 hours between nursing, which means she needs to fill up at night. I've heard people say, "Feed her more during the day." Well I don't know about your baby, but mine eats WHEN she wants. :) I can try to feed her more often, but if she's not into it, off she pops! And to top off the eating, her new movement is burning more calories so eating is definitely necessary when she's not out army crawling (towards everything she's not supposed to have).

Separation anxiety, as Jac put it today, happens right at the time of crawling. Sofia wants to crawl all over and explore, but she needs to come back and make sure Mama's arms are still there to hold her. She is still just a baby and needs her mama to help regulate her. I've read about how babies can release a stress hormone that is harmful to them and while babies who are separated survive while releasing this hormone (it doesn't kill you!) I still can't knowingly cause my little one harm IF I can do something about it. Letting my baby cry isn't something I am down for. Everyone does their own way and many will let their babies cry. Some have circumstances and whatnot that they need to, but Seth and I choose not to. Our biggest struggle with this is the car seat, but we are okay with stopping and giving our little one breaks from it. Most often if she's upset in the car seat it's because she's hungry or tired (& bad timing). 

There is one thing that has stuck in my mind from a book we read. When a baby cries they are communicating. If I ignored it, I might be ignoring a number of things... Sofia cries when she's hungry, tired, wants held. She also cries if she is hurting (as in miserable because I ate a food that messes with her system). I couldn't ignore that! She fusses when she needs to pee which helps us know when to put her on the potty at times or to give her a dry diaper (would you want to sit in soiled britches??) Anyway, the book explained that some people say your baby is crying to manipulate you. I don't know that manipulate is the best word. While your baby is trying to get you to do certain things, so in a sense, manipulate you, it's because she needs these things and can't provide them for herself. The book explained how when you look at a baby thinking they manipulate you have a negative view on them from the start. I'd like to believe my babe isn't out to be a negative little being, so I choose to try to figure out what she's communicating. It actually results in a lot less crying than I'd expect from a baby because we've learned to predict her needs. 

Sometimes I worry about sharing how we do things. I've offended people in the past, and the only thing I can get from it is by being different it seems to feel like we are judging??? By stepping out of the norm, it offends others? I don't know? We are just doing what we feel is best for our situation. We expect others to have different opinions but with our baby it's our way. We wonder if our own parents will have opinions about our choices as well (hey parents ;) but we hope they will understand that we are using new research and what we think is best for our baby. We are learning how to be parents by doing. And yes, we are parenting different than they parented, not because what they did didn't work (I mean, hello, we are pretty kick ass people thanks to our parents!) but because we are in a different situation than our parents were with a different little person than we were.