Along Comes a Minion: Teeth and 4 Month Sleep Regression

We'll start with what happened first, the horrid four month sleep regression. Asher has actually slept pretty well from the get go...until he hit four months old. From some of the reading that I've done, there is a four month sleep regression or a four month wakeful period. What I understand is there really isn't much of a difference. Just in the wakeful period, the baby wakes up and wants to talk or play and such. The regression is the same thing, but the baby will go back to sleep. That is Asher. He has been waking up ALL THE TIME during the night. Some nights every 30min to one hour. O.M.G. I know I was tired when he was first born, but I had NO CLUE what was coming. Especially after the tease of getting maybe 3-5 hour stretches of sleep (which, lets be honest, I haven't had since MAYBE early 2nd trimester, because waking up to pee or being just purely uncomfortable being pregnant and sleeping never lent to the best, continuous sleep), being made to wake up all the time is enough to drive one mad.

Maybe this is why we all think our mothers are a little crazy sometimes...because they are! We made them that way through sleep deprivation, teasing sleep, and purely annoying sleeping habits. They never could catch a break back then, altering their perfect and pure logic they once had. To top it off, they didn't even have smart phones or DVRs to entertain them when they were forced to be awake. Think of our grandparents and great grandparents, when there wasn't anything on the TV (or even the existence of one) or radio to entertain them. They had to sit there and deal with us waking up at God awful hours by themselves!!! They sat alone, sleep deprived, with their thoughts. I don't know about you, but that can be scary sometimes! My, where can our minds lead us at times! Of course books are helpful, but if you can read in the near blackness that you're sitting in with the hopes of the baby to go back to sleep faster, I doubt you'll be able to see the book much (assuming you're conscious enough to even realize you're reading!)

I guess if you're one of the lucky ones who can sleep sitting up, good for you. I can't. I wake myself snoring when I do that (which is why I'm hoping to train Asher NOT to be a light sleeper because it totally blows). I know those that bed share may feel that have it a bit easier, too, because side lying breast feeding means you can go to back to sleep and make the baby fall asleep eating, but you're still getting awakened often (and if you like to sleep with tons of blankets, bed sharers can't do that without putting the baby at risk of SIDs or suffocation, and, God help you, if sleeping on your side for a long time makes your hips hurt, like mine, then bed sharing gets old super fast. Not dissing bed sharing, just saying I think no matter you're style, sleep regression sucks butt).

Anyways, now that Asher is fast approaching 5 months old (he was 20 weeks this week, but not officially 5 months) I THINK he may be starting to get the hang of real sleep. Out of the past 4 nights, 2 have sucked butt and 2 have been Heavenly. 50% isn't that bad. One can mostly function on 50%, yes?

So, there you have it. A "milestone" for Asher. One I was neither looking forward to and will be quite excited to see pass.

Other milestones you ask? He's found his feet, and, I can proudly attest to, is very proficient at sticking them in his mouth to suck on. He likes to squeal and scream now. He has really gotten fun. There is no rough housing yet, but getting him to smile, squeal, talk, play, reach, bat, or shove things in his mouth has gotten easy and is so much fun. I know playing like that is actually super lame, but what makes it fun is watching him develop the abilities and interest to do all of these things. He is now playing with the duckies I put in the bath with him. Granted, it is mostly reaching, batting, and grabbing to put in his mouth, but he's playing with them nonetheless.

Oh, and he has teeth now! Yes, teeth. Not a tooth, but TEETH. Sigh. I wasn't ready for that. I might have to confess to sorta crying on the way to work the day after he cut his first tooth because I just wasn't ready for his toothless smiles and grins to go away yet. They were so cute! He does still look mostly toothless, as he only has 2 and those 2 are only barely cut through the gums, but they're there. And, it seems everyone wants to know, so far, breastfeeding is still a breeze. He doesn't hurt me anymore with teeth than he did without teeth. Those "gums" he has have serious bone behind them, so, if he wanted to chomp for some reason he would still send me screaming (of course this did not happen often, or we'd have a problem, but like if he choked, he might chomp to try to help control his cough and unfortunately my anatomy was in the way).

It's a little fuzzy...but there are his 2 teeth. He wasn't pleased having to have his picture taken for this.

Other than that, we're still waiting on rolling over. He hates tummy time, but we're making him do it more and trying to trick it up more to make him like it better. He really likes the toys he plays in where he's upright and bouncing and such. I think he just really hates feeling like the world is happening around him and he's not part of it. Lying on your stomach, or even your back, sorta limits your view. His other toys (his exersaucer and jumper) allow him 360° views, which, of course, are far superior. We'll see what happens. I might have to just lie to the pediatrician because I really think nothing is wrong with him if he doesn't roll. He is hitting other milestones and can move his body extremely well. He just doesn't care for this rolling business right now.

Just getting comfortable since he's forced to be down there.

He is also watching us eat and reaching for things now. We tried to give him some rice "cereal" mixed with breast milk, but he was NOT having it. I wasn't a big fan of starting with rice cereal, but Brandon really wanted to try it because someone he works with said it helped his kid sleep. (I'm not a fan because I just don't see the point of feeding him something that is tasteless, has little to no nutrition, and seems like 50/50 on whether it helps the baby sleep through the night). Either way, Asher is slowly becoming more interested in food. I'm hoping to cut up some avocado soon, sprinkle it with some mashed up Cheerios or something, and see if he is interested in grabbing it and feeding himself with it. He's getting close to that age where babies are often doing that for themselves.