I've fallen so far behind on these monthly updates it's not even funny. This will be my last! I'm not sure how often I'll do them going forward. But I do have a couple I depth posts on specific issues coming up.
Anyway. This month Spud started solids, kinda by accident. MIL had him for the afternoon, she's been encouraging us to start solids for ages (all her kids started early etc etc) and assumed we'd done so. I wasn't all that upset about missing that milestone, more so worried that eating an entire can of purée having not had solids before might seriously stuff him up inside. Especially given his recent constipation dramas. Luckily he seemed fine that night, and all was well on that front.
(I'd been planning to wait till 6 months for solids, which would be closer to 5 months adjusted given his early birth. Also, seeing how sensitive his stomach is ... I wasn't in any rush! This was just a few weeks ahead of schedule is all.)
We went to the paediatric gastro specialist, who prescribed stool softener and Pepti Jnr formula. This is still cows milk based but the proteins are more broken down for easier digestion. Sadly, Spud reacted just like he does to regular formula, but even worse in some ways, I think. Probably getting more sensitised?! I felt we didn't get taken as seriously as I'd hoped, as Spud is growing well, generally seems happy when out and about, and isn't developmentally delayed (since reaching for toys seems to be the main benchmark right now doctors care about). But his deafening screech during the physical exam may have helped our case. He was extremely unhappy about being touched around the belly/groin. If not for that, I don't know what the outcome would have been!
He had an enormous appetite for a week or two. I started dreamfeeding him, which maybe helped a little bit?
There may not be a 6 month sleep regression but his sleep definitely went a bit wonky and there was a lot of babble and chatter during some of these middle of the night/early morning wakes.
We also had our first ever 3-hour wake time during the day. Holy exhaustion...
Finally, he started to love his reflection at last! I was starting to think he was the only baby ever to not like mirrors. He did seem to enjoy or at least be intrigued by his reflection back when he was maybe a month old and I laid him on the dresser, but that was the one and only time up till now.
As for movement, he still doesn't like tummy time and shows no signs of crawling, or sitting up. He first rolled over at about a month and then didn't do it again for a few months. Rolling is very sporadic with him, and I've noticed that when he's having digestive upset he doesn't roll at all. He'll just lie on his back and not move when put down, for days (dairy reactions last for days, and his constipation has been prolonged). When he's feeling okay he seems to roll all the time. After the specialist appointment, when the doctor did some prodding around his belly, it was like it loosened something up in him. When we got home he seemed more relaxed and was rolling over every which way on his playmat.