We all have heard about the famous baby smell. I can concur that it’s true – and it’s amazing. Though I hear fully formula-fed babies can smell a little differently, I know for sure that Aiden has a scent all his own. It’s not connected with baby soap – since we only use that every week or two – or shampoo – that’s every month or two. It’s just… Aiden.
From what I could research, a baby’s scent may operate as a pheromone. For sure, my reaction to how Aiden smells is different to that of other babies – they all smell different from each other.
Though the scent has faded as he’s grown up, it’s still there. I notice it most on the top of his head and mostly when he’s breastfeeding. When I’m nursing, my body releases oxytocin and, aside from making me feel emotionally connected to Aiden, it seems to increase my sense of smell. My nose becomes flooded with his baby smell – it’s quite a heady rush.
Do you still savour the baby smell? When does it go away?
A newborn considers you his first toy, so just looking at and smiling at your baby is great. Aiden liked to sit on my lap against his breastfeeding pillow and have his legs played with or be bounced up and down. He never liked tummy time, but I would attempt it on my lap or by simply holding him upright – no need to do it on the floor right away! Lights are also a big hit, so carrying your baby around to look at different light sources is fun.
Having a baby that was very impatient and difficult to please, we tended to have lots of toys. That said, there were some that were bigger hits than others. These are toys that we still use, even past 7 months, but they were also the most fun and age-appropriate for him from newborn on.
Links – these are inexpensive and easy to find. Most toy stores and department stores will have them. Baby will enjoy looking at them, attempting to grab them, then later chewing on them and banging them. You can use them to attach toys to playmats, to each other, to strollers, etc.
Blocks – these are marketed to 2+ years, but they are appropriate from the get-go. They are colorful, easy to grab onto, and fun for the mouth
Mirror – whether you use a toy mirror, a small mirror with a stand, or your full-sized mirrors, you’ll find baby enjoys looking at himself
Dangled toys - it doesn’t matter what you dangle, but baby will enjoy looking at toys above him and will start to bat at them. You can use a bouncy chair (Aiden hated his), a playmat, or just your own arm to dangle stuffed toys, links or even stuff around the house
Rattle - though he couldn’t use it, the rattle was an important distractor when Aiden would become fussy, particularly during tummy time
Some other top contenders include a stuffed toy or even a washcloth to chew on, a Sophie giraffe (your baby will like it or not care), a musical mobile and a musical toy of some sort.
This is a photo of my little Aiden after he woke up from his first nap today and I’d slipped off his sleep sack. Today’s rant is about naps…
Naps have always been a problem for us (well, after 2 months). Though our sleep training has solved many many issues for us, we were unable to make Aiden’s naps “perfect.” Perhaps we aimed too high, but we definitely couldn’t get a “textbook” nap schedule working for us.
At 6-7 months, Aiden was supposed to transition to 2 longer naps for the day. We’re not there. About 5 weeks ago, Aiden transitioned from 1.5 hours of awake time to 2.5 hours. It was quite sudden. And, after only a few days of that, the reverse happened. His morning awake-time went from 2.5 hours to 1 hour. And stayed that way. Though we were able to lengthen his later awake periods, this one was stubborn. We thought it might be temporary – teething? growth spurt? – but it’s been persistent.
Now at 7 months, I have managed to keep Aiden up for 1.5 hours in the morning. His later awake periods are 2 hours and 2.5 hours. But that’s 3 naps… plus a 4th “quiet time” or nap attempt, depending on when he wakes up and how long his previous naps were. Our goal bedtime is 6:30, but Aiden is (for some unknown reason) unable to put himself to sleep for a nap past 3:45. In reality this makes for a 5:30 bedtime most days.
Aiden can put himself to sleep for his naps and can take naps up to 1.5 hours, if he needs it. But that’s the stipulation. His typical naps are 40 minutes, and that’s simply all he needs. We went through enough with the sleep trainer for us to make this assessment. When he needs a longer nap, he’ll take it no problem.
The shorter naps, and the short awake period first thing in the morning, has left us with 3 naps instead of 2. I’m pretty sure that if Aiden could stay up an extra hour in the morning that a lot of our nap issues would sort themselves out. However, I can’t force Aiden to stay awake. So… we’re waiting for that extra hour to emerge again. Maybe it will just be there, suddenly, like it was the first time.
Have you ever experienced these backward-steps with napping?
Today Aiden turned 7 months old. This last month really flew by! It was a great month, despite Aiden getting sick twice. He completely firmed up his sitting, which he learned at 5.5 months, and finally got up onto his hands during tummy time. I think we’re far from crawling still, though he’s great at standing on his own if propped against something.
Aiden has continued to verbalize, making mostly ‘dada’ and ‘gaga’ noises. He also now has squeals and screams of pleasure, as well as annoyance. If you walk behind him, particularly up the stairs, and give him a smile he will squeak in delight and pump his legs like he’s jumping up and down.
Aiden has continued to be a good eater, always diversifying his diet. He has had everything from avacado to buffalo! He’s also drinking water from a glass and sippy cup. We’re still waiting on teeth (and hair) though! Together we celebrated our first mothers day – my gift from Aiden was being able to sleep in until 8:30am!
I have a confession to make… I’m a sniffer. Of diapers. Yes, I admit it. It’s true.
Prior to becoming a mommy myself, I would scrunch up my nose in disgust and confusion when I saw a parent sniffing a baby bottom. ‘Why not just look?’, I would ask myself.
Now, as a parent, I get it. Sniffing is faster. 90% of the time you’ll know it’s a poop and not just a fart. Though most of the time they smell different (honestly), sometimes there are ones that are iffy. The sniff test can tell you if you’ve got yourself a poop instead of a fart before confirming this with a visual test (which can be more complicated depending on the outfit.)
