7 Month Summary

Naps
We're still in limbo between 3 and 4 naps. Most babies are taking 3 naps at this age, but many days Beckett just needs 4! I think this is because he usually has one long (90 min.) nap and the others are short (45 min.). If he regularly took 90 minute naps than three would be enough. I've tried pushing his wake time to 2 hours to space his naps out a little more, but it's too much for him. 90 minutes seems to be about the right wake time for him still.

Sleeping at Night
Beckett usually goes to bed between 7:30-8:00 and wakes up around 6:30. For some reason the recent time change has actually helped him and he has been going to bed a little earlier and sleeping a little longer. I'm hoping this will help cut down to 3 naps! A few weeks ago we had several nights where he was awake 4-5 times a night. Looking back I think it was right after he had his shots. I went into panic mode and started researching different sleep training methods. A few days later he went back to sleeping peacefully and waking up twice a night just to eat. I've heard that there is no reason he should be eating during the night at this age, and also heard that twice a night at this age is totally normal. I can handle twice a night no problem. Also, have you seen how big he is and how fast he is growing? I feel like I need to eat twice in the night just to keep up with him! My current plan (which is likely to change) is to start sleep training at 9 months right when I'm done working for the summer. We're going to get rid of the swaddle and focus on always putting him to bed awake. Until then, I'm going to keep doing what we're doing because it works.

Skills
This kid is rolling around like a crazy man! He doesn't usually go across the room or anything, but he rolls back and forth from his stomach to his back constantly. Drinking out of water bottles is his specialty. He can almost drink from a sippy cup by himself. He gets it to his mouth no problem, but hasn't figured out that he has to tilt it up. He can sit for 2-3 minutes without falling over sometimes. I feel like army crawling is just a few weeks away. His other favorites include spitting, blowing raspberries, flinging food, pulling his binky in and out, and laughing at the dog.

Swaddling

I know I said we are done with swaddling. In fact, I think I've written that twice. But here we are at seven months and I am still swaddling him uuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhhh. He is such a giant that I just use an Aiden and Anais blanket and only swaddle his arms. Once he really wakes up he can break out of it, but he stays swaddled while he just stirring in his sleep and he just sleeps so much better!

Nursing

On the days that I work Beckett usually has 3 bottles. I nurse him in the morning, twice before bed, and 1-2 times during the night. That's about 8 times a day. 

Baby Led Weaning

Beckett is doing really well with spoon feeding and feeding himself. Until recently, he didn't swallow much of the food he fed himself unless it was in a mesh feeder. Recently he has discovered that he can bite little chunks of food off with his gums. We have stuck to mainly fruits and vegetables, but this next month I am going to try to introduce him to a bit more meat. I have a feeling he will not have a problem with that!

Size
18 month onsies and pajamas, and 9-12 month pants. 18 months! It's hard to find onsies past 18 months. I don't know what I'm going to do. When he is crawling around everywhere and learning to walk, I don't want him in little t-shirts. His pudgy tummy will be constantly hanging out. Soon I will be in search of 2T onsies!

Sign Language
Last night Beckett started yelling.... just YELLING in frustration while he was eating dinner. I tried giving him a cookie, I tried giving him water, I tried spoon feeding him..... finally I decided just to get him out of the highchair. The second I did that he let out a big sigh and smile. He was just done eating! That's when I decided we're going to do some basic sign language. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to want/need something and not be able to communicate any other way than screaming and whining. That wouldn't only be frustrating for him, but me too! I think it will be a few months before he catches on to signing, but I'm going to start with just a few signs for now. I'm thinking the most useful ones will be "more "and "all done". Eventually I think I would like to teach him please, thank you, milk, water, and probably a few others.