The big 6 months

Happy half a year birthday to Niamh!

Niamh celebrated it by having an allergy test on Friday which tested for wheat, egg, cow's milk, soy and peanut allergies.....and it came back NEGATIVE. Fantastic news!! We will wait and see what our doctor says but it seems we can try cow's milk formula again to check. I'm trilled with the result, (especially as tins of Neocate cost $100), but am quite surprised considering the reaction to the formula last time which happened more than just one time. We will see how we go.

Niamh is getting really good at sitting up all by herself. She can still have face plants which give her a big frights so I make sure I'm not too far away at the moment. She's not interested in rolling yet instead uses a more of a 'scoop and gather' approach to retrieving toys. :) She's a mover with her arms and legs,....her body not so much ...yet. She will do a bendy banana shape so am hoping we are still a little way off the full on moving stage as we still haven't started baby proofing our house. Anthony has taught Niamh to bang two blocks together. Trust Dad to teach noisy tricks :)

We gave Niamh her first taste of solids yesterday with baby rice. She's didn't do too bad either and the funny thing was Anthony ended up having more food on him than Niamh!! Might not be the case the more we get into though!

Other than that, Anthony is in full on study mode for an exam coming up and I am seeing a physio twice weekly to sort my sciatic nerve problem which is making my left leg hurt. It seems I've hurt it after being pregnant with Niamh and am just hoping to get it all fixed for summer.

New developments

We had our latest Plunket visit at 5 months and 1 week. Niamh is now 6.47kg, 60.2cm long with a head circumference of 42cm. She's probably going to be a short wee thing like her mum! We also got through the 5 month jabs. Niamh was SO brave and only really gave a cry when she got pricked and thankfully the cuddles after made her feel better. It's great that's all over for a long while.

I am starting to wean Niamh from breastfeeding now. My goal was to make it to 4-6 months, so 5 months in I think I've done really well. There has been a few unexpected hiccups. One, Niamh deciding she didn't like bottles anymore, and two, Niamh appears to be allergic to cow's milk formula. (We got past the bottle phobia with a bit of parent trickery). With the normal formula she came out in an ugly red rash all over her month and chest immediately after feeding. I took photos then went to the doctors with my trusty camera and sure enough- allergic reaction! So we are using special doctors prescribed formula called Neocate now. She has had no problems with this one, even though it smells sooooo bad!!! (It's base is amino acids) Thankfully she is happy to drink it. So far I have taken out 2 of her feeds per day, one at 7pm and one at lunchtime. It's all going so well thankfully!!

Niamh is just about able to sit by herself with no support (5.5 mths old). In the last few days her balance has really improved, along with a few topples over when testing out just how far she can go. She's also becoming quite particular about what toys she wants to play with or which ones she is not interested in. Picky or just selective? :) She's getting good at playing peek-a-boo now and loves to try and put her feet into her mouth when lying on her back.

We got Niamh a blow up duck bath in the weekend, that goes into the real bath. It's perfect for Niamh cause she can sit up supported on all sides, and she just LOVES it! it's also great cause it saves us on water to fill. The beak makes a quack noise...so cute!!