Peace - jaylor story (peace book 1)

4 months

-Taylors pov- 

"so, Taylor, we have lots to talk about today" our pediatrician says when I sit down with Ellie in my lap in her office. "What kind of milestones has she reached now?" 

"Well, she started to coo, and then laughing. Putting her feet into her mouth. And a little over a week ago she started to say ba ba ba. She goes up on her elbows when she is on her stomach. And she does this rocking thing from side to side like she is trying to go on her back. If she sees something she wants to take it, regardless of if it's a toy, food or cats. We don't really need to support her head anymore; she holds it for the most part herself. She doesn't whine for food as much, now it's like every three to four hours. Sleeps longer at night" I continue to rant about all the things she has done since the last checkup. She is getting so big now and can do so much more. It's really exciting to see her reach new milestones and growing into a person and not just a baby that does nothing. 

"That sounds really good for her age. Totally normal. How is she at night? Is she still in a basinet or have you started moving her to a crib" she asks after taking notes about what I've already said. 

"We have thought about moving her. But we were nervous, so we wanted to ask what you thought. According to my friends with kids sleep training is a good idea now but we weren't confident. Also, what we would do about night feeds, how many naps during the day and all that. Just as we were starting to get a grasp on things there are new stuff to do" I tell her honestly. I'm always nervous to admit when we don't know what to do, it feels like we should, but we haven't done this before. We don't want to do something that's too soon or ends up hurting her. 

"We actually have a recommended schedule for babies her age in terms of naps, so I can give you that and you can try it out. You say she is almost rolling over and that means that it's time to move her to the crib out of safety, the AAP do recommend keeping the crib in your room until about 6months." she tells me, and I take mental note of everything she says. "We do recommend starting with naps in the crib for a couple of days just to get her used to that, but other than that in regard to nighttime it's a balancing act of pushing her but not too much either. You need to follow your intuition because you're the one that knows your baby best. I can give you guidance but at the end of the day you know her better than me" 

Thats really scary to hear, that at the end of the day it's on joe and I to figure out what's best for Ellie. "Sure, we will try to transition her. I feel like its time too. What do we do about night feeds though, we don't want her to starve at night. I've read a lot about the sleep training options, but I'm just unsure about the feedings part" 

"She is getting to the weight where she can feed less during the night. Maybe start to go down to two and then try one. She may whine but that's a part of sleep training. The most important part of sleep training is consistency no matter what happens. If you always do something different, she gets confused, and it takes longer for her to settle into the routine." that what I read too, that you're supposed to stick to it no matter what. It's really harsh, I'm scared that it will make her hate me. But if everyone else does that and in the end, it works out I guess we need to try that too. 

"At some point during the next two months you can also try food with her. But if she isn't interested it's okay to wait too. Some practicians say to wait closer to 6months and some say start at four months. In this case I usually recommend following your baby's cues and interest. If she is interested maybe offer something age appropriate once a day but don't push her to eat it if she doesn't seem interested. But that's just a recommendation, there are so many ways to introduce solids" she does seem really interested in food, she is always grabbing for whatever joe or I are eating so I think she is ready to try something. "She seems really interested, so I guess we will find something to try"