Month 7: My Pandemic Baby, What to Expect From a Seven Month Old

7 Month Old Pandemic Baby

7-month-old babies are so fun but so wild. As per usual, I promise to keep it short and sweet with a massive chance of it not being short and sweet, to our new readers bare with me, to our faithful readers, welcome back to the circus.

This month, for the first time, I don’t have any super crazy stories, I know, bummer. Today we have just a simple blog post of my pandemic baby doing pandemic baby type stuff. Let’s dive in, shall we?

SEVEN

seven month old alína

Alína is a star

Not to toot my own horn but, toot toot. My 7-month-old is a star. I could be completely crazy but Alína is teaching herself things that are so random but making me so terribly proud. My biggest fear was her not being in daycare and not being on the same learning schedule as other baby’s, but my fear was seriously just fear and Alína is doing things that shows the amazing beauty of this innate knowledge babies have that help them learn how to do the things they do.

The difference between 6 and 7 months, somehow, is already so different.

ALÍNA

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Last time we spoke about Alína I told you guys how nervous I was because of the milestones she was behind on-P.S I'm still being delivered from the obsession of milestones, keep me in your prayers. This month I've been lucky to witness first handily that all babies develop at different times.

all babies are different

I was feeling so guilty because I couldn't understand why Alína wasn't doing things at the pace of the babies I knew. As a new mom, even though you hear that all babies develop at a different pace it still somehow weighs on you when your little one feels a little behind. Well sis, as soon as I became ok with her taking her time and really began to enjoy her and not the milestones. This girl randomly decides to not only catch up but exceed my expectations.

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As soon as Alína hit 7 months she decided that babbling wasn't an option and crawling was about to be conquered. After a long day at work I did my usual. Sat my stuff down, got undressed, santised and instantly run over to Alína. Well after a few hours of playing I put her on the bed, and ran into the bathroom for 2 second to grab something, I came back in the room and Alína was on the otherside of the bed. I looked around and was so confused. I knew I didn't move her but somehow, she was on the other side of the bed, on all fours staring at me just as confused but laughing. Alína was crawling!

Alína at 7 months can now crawl and there is no stopping her. Not only that but at 7 months she is now babbling away and is extremely intentional in letting us know when we are doing something she doesn't like. Sometimes I wonder if her babbles are cussing me out but more on that soon. Alína also has an official favourite show that she watches every evening for 30mins. I genuinely feel like her babbling and need to dance and bounce came from her love for this cute show. Now as you may have previously read, I was so unsure about her watching youtube or any form of TV before 2 but this channel is amazing and she loves it!

Alína's Fave Show ⟶

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This month we also learnt something interesting and extremely crazy, Alína is allergic to Carrotts and Pears. How you may ask? I have no idea but sadly, throughout our experimenting with food, we learnt an awful amount of not-so-fun facts. Her allergies being one. We tried multiple products to prevent me from having to make anything from scratch but in my attempts, failure became way to consistent. It turns out that most baby foods have hidden processes that Alína's body was too sensitive to handle. I decided to become wonder-woman or wonder-mom and make all Alína's food from scratch, breakfast, lunch and dinner. At first I was exhausted, to be honest, I'm still exhausted, but I can't begin to express the rewarding feeling of knowing that Alína is eating well and enjoys eating without the fear of an upset tummy or swollen lips. One small step for man, is one giant step for mom!

Here's some insight for new moms

Things you may not know about your 7month old...

pOTENTIAL 7 MONTH OLD MILESTONEs

It’s never easy to make sure your baby is on track and as I previously mentioned, I have to be so careful too not to compare Alína’s milestones and constantly remember that all babies are different. However, it is always good to have a rough idea of where your little angel should be. One of my favourite sites to learn about Alína’s milestones is “what to expect”. However, after 7 months of having Alína, I’ve learnt and grown to take everything with a pinch of salt.

7 month old At Glance

Your little one should be sleeping 11 hours at night and taking daily naps of 3-4 hours. But I want to drop a note here , Alína sleeps straight through the night-most nights but roughly sleeps 2 hours in the day, most days. Heavy of the "most".

Eating honey and drinking cow’s milk and fruit juice are off-limits for babies under age 1. Water is the safest drink for your little one, don't worry about adding anything else that you would think is flavorful, to their diet, a baby's pallet is not like our pallet.

Your baby should get 24 to 30 ounces of breast milk or formula a day and 4 to 9 tablespoons of cereal, fruit and vegetables daily, as well as 1 to 6 tablespoons of protein foods. But if your little one is anything like Alína at 7 months, they may be having a little bit more than this.

Food allergies in babies occur when their bodies’ immune systems treat food as a potential threat. Usually, the symptoms — such as hives, skin rashes, sneezing, vomiting and, in rare, severe cases, trouble breathing — appear within the first 30 minutes to two hours after being exposed to the food.

If your baby has already started solids, you can start giving her water to drink out of a sippy cup. Many doctors recommend that babies drink small sips of water when it’s very hot outside to reduce the risk of dehydration, but check with your pediatrician beforehand.

You know that song your 7-month-old baby seems to love? Hope you like it too, because you'll likely be called upon to sing it about a thousand times — and when you're done, your 7-month-old will be begging for an encore. Alína has an obssession with music, so when you speak to me and me or her dad is horse, you now know why.

7months postpartum

This will be short because honestly sis, my days blur together and I feel like I’m still 4 months postpartum. Bare with me as I search my memory bank of what this past month has been like.

I remember when I first had Alína and all the sleepless nights I had. The constant tiredness, confusion, and wondering what the heck I’m doing and if I’m doing it right. Now I won’t lie, even with a 7-month-old, I still feel all the above-and more, but it has got easier.

The hardest thing is having friends who don’t have a baby and having to explain why you can’t do things but your desire to still be invited to do things? I know to most of them my life makes no sense but I’m grateful for the childless tribe of friends that have still been rocking with me and loving on me despite my inconsistencies.

Similar to last month, I felt a major shift happen in my heart but this shift led me to a big decision and I decided to leave the Knoxville Chamber. I know. I felt your gasped virtually.

If you know me or have been reading my Dear Meg entries, you know the last thing I’ve ever planned or thought about doing was leaving what once was my dream organization. After Alína was born, I changed. I wanted to find a way to be home more and when I’m not home, I wanted it to make sense why I wasn’t home. One of the aims I have as a mom is a desire to serve my community in hopes that Alína will want to do the same. I received an opportunity to do that for a non-profit that offers me the flexibility to spend time with Alína and my blog tribe, while still serving my community!

Having a 7-month-old has made me feel brave enough to leave a job I love, to serve in a job that will make a true impact, all in the name of love, light, community… and a pay rise.

Needless to say, your girl is excited but this is the most bitter-sweet moment I’ve had in years.

Anyway, I promised I wouldn’t keep you long so here’s my summary, 7months postpartum has been good to me so far, but we are only halfway in, we will catch up in a few weeks on how things progress #StayTuned.