Six months of EET

My darling boy is already six months old. It feels like it has gone by so fast, yet life before having two seems like a lifetime ago.

EET is such a different baby from his brother, we didn’t actually realise how low maintenance RLT was until we had his brother. We jokingly called him Boss Baby when he arrived as he was very vocal about letting us know when he needed something, this is something we’d never really experienced with RLT until much later.

EET has had six months of being fed on demand, he has no inclination to switch over to bottle feeding or to have a dummy to settle. He will take a dummy now, but he really isn’t fussed by it so will spit it out when he’s finished playing with it.

Our breastfeeding journey has been up and down, I am constantly unsure whether he is getting enough, I can never find the time to express to up my supply and on a night time he has been known to wake every hour and a half for food, which takes it’s toll. We both had thrush and needed cream when he was three months old, at that point I was ready to try him on formula and trying to wean him off, but he had other ideas.

I wanted to get to two weeks, to six weeks, then to three months and then to six months and now I think we will just continue until he decides he doesn’t need it anymore. I’m trying to help him develop different sleep associations, which aren’t me! Breastfeeding is what is best for him, what makes him content and I’m off work to look after him so continuing is OK.

However, if you have other children and a will to have a child fit into your existing life, rather than everything being about them, breastfeeding is an incredibly difficult journey.

The reward of the bond with your child outweigh the difficulties but sleeping through or enjoying a night out are so far away.

The bond between brothers has been getting stronger and stronger – RLT mostly saves his displays of affection for his little brother for when he doesn’t think you’re watching, which is beautiful. E adores his big brother, loves any attention he gets from him and now he is able to laugh heartily when his brother plays peakaboo with him.

Bathtimes continue to be incredibly popular. Since E was around two months old he has shared this experience with his brother, getting his hair washed regularly, which he takes in his stride. He absolutely loved swimming when he tried it at aged six months when we visited Bluestone with my friend Nicola and her children. We haven’t done Waterbabies like we did with R, but there is still time to change this.

Little man absolutely loves going to his groups, he started going at five weeks, which is a little early, but I felt it important to get one-on-one time with each child, which groups give the ideal opportunity to do so. He loves Hartbeeps, but his absolute favourite is baby yoga without a doubt. He smiles and laughs all of the way through. Baby yoga is great too as the instructor gets images of us both together, which are usually difficult to get unless they’re selfies.

E has taken eating in his stride! He isn’t much of a fan of being spoon-fed, he would much prefer to do things on his own. He seems to really like strong tastes, coconut curry and fish pie seem to be big favourites at the moment. We started weaning at just over five months as it became apparent that he was ready – it had got to the point that he started stealing food out of people’s hands!

At six months old he enjoyed his first holiday to Bluestone, as with everything he look the six hour drive in his stride and was lovely the whole time. It made me excited for the summer to be outdoors with them both, although I think he takes after his mummy with his pale skin, so will be enjoying it under a parasol and lathered in factor 50.

Colic has been quite horrific with this one, he has suffered consistently until about 6 months old, when he started to get a bit stronger and sit up. Sitting up seemed to be something that he mastered within two days of being sat upright.

The jumparoo seems to be popular with him as does the Britax pushchair – we’ve found it to be the only place he will sleep other than being in someone’s arms! So it is a regular feature in our house, he loves to sit in it in the garden and watch the bubble machine or his brother and cat traipsing over the plants.

Ahhh the cat. His favourite thing in the entire world. They have some crazy bond, so likes to lay beside where he is playing and he likes to follow her with his eyes!