Brinley Baby Summary: Week 23

Baby schedule for baby’s 23rd week. Baby schedule and routine for the twenty-third week of life. 22 week old baby routine and daily life. Learn about introducing squash, how to handle solids during a growth spurt, and Wonder Week 26.

5 months 1 week old

This is a summary for Brinley’s 23rd week–she was 22 weeks old. She had just turned 5 months old.

NURSING

This week, I had my first period since Brinley was born. Yeah (said very unenthusiastically). I never noticed this with my other kids, but since I use the Milkies and since I have heard from many moms saying this happens to them, I noticed my milk supply was a bit lower during my period. 

SOLIDS

This week, we added butternut squash to her menu. Like the sweet potatoes, she was “eh.” These ones, I baked in the oven to the point of delicious. I don’t know why she isn’t in love with them (though Brayden says it is because it is squash 🙂 ). He didn’t like squash as a baby either.

Brinley is a funny, very passive person when she doesn’t want to eat something. All of my other kids have had some way of displaying they were not interested in a food that was unmistakable.

Kaitlyn would put her hands in front of her mouth. Brayden wouldn’t open his mouth. I don’t really remember McKenna ever refusing food….anyway, when Brinley is done, she sticks her tongue out a bit and then just looks off in the distance. She doesn’t get mad; she doesn’t seem to refuse. Like I said, it is very passive. But she is definitely refusing to eat. It is quite amusing. 

>>>Read: Baby Meal Planner {Free Printable}

Brinley started to get kind of particular about having me feed her solids. In my experience, this is normal if one person feeds the baby every time. My husband started feeding her once a day and she got over it–she even got so she would eat better for him sometimes.

She also has had Kaitlyn feed her sometimes…which is nice and I let Kaitlyn do it, but Kaitlyn is not as “clean” as we are so Brinley ends up with a lot of food on her face. It makes for cute pictures :).

>>>Read: Baby’s Feeding Schedule With Solid Foods

GROWTH SPURT

Brinley had a growth spurt this week. She seemed hungry after I fed her the usual amount of solids, so I would offer her more and she ate it up. Or it could have been she wasn’t having a growth spurt but was reacting to my lower milk supply.

>>>Read: Baby Growth Spurts: Everything You Need To Know

WONDER WEEK 26

Brinley had a couple of shorter naps this week. It could have been growth spurt/milk supply reaction or wonder week 26 starting to show some signs. They typically start at 22 weeks. 

>>>Read: The Wonder Weeks and Sleep

SIT UP

Brinley kept trying to sit up on her own this week. Not get into a sitting position from laying down, but be sitting in my lap or in something else and trying to get to sitting alone. It made me think and I realized at this age, Brayden could sit for several seconds unassisted and Kaitlyn could even longer. I really think of her as being quite a bit younger than she is, so I haven’t even tried working with her on it…I guess I should!

>>>Read: Super Common Traits of a Youngest Child

SCHEDULE

Our schedule typically looks like this:
7:30–feed with solids–half of a banana and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in
8:45–nap
11:30–feed with solids–4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in
1:00–nap
3:30–feed
5:00–nap 
5:30–feed with solids–half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T) OR butternut squash (1-2 T)–we alternate every other day with squash and sweet potatoes.
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:10

HELPFUL BOOKS

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25 thoughts on “Brinley Baby Summary: Week 23”

  1. She looks so cute with that headband on. Question for you. What do you do on the days where she wakes early from naps. My son is almost 6 weeks and sometimes he makes it to the next feed and others he doesnt. He is falling asleep on his on with some crying involved but when he wakes he sometimes puts himself back to sleep but then is up every 10min or so crying. He is sleeping reclined due to reflux issues, i am on a dairy free diet b/c of poss. allergy so i am not sure if he is waking up from gas pains or what. i am to the point of wanting to go to formula that is broken down to help with his digestion to see if that helps him sleep better. he does fine at night though. Its just frustrating when he doesnt sleep till the next feed. What should i do? I also try and do the 4 s's before naps, but he doesnt relax sometimes being help and esp. getting swaddled. i cant just stand there and hold him till he relaxes b/c he is screaming. its hard to comfort him. any thoughts? thanks!

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  2. Angie, he may just be hungry, especially in such a young baby. I'd go ahead and feed him when he wakes early and just adjust the day from there. I would keep breastfeeding–switching to formula probably won't help anything and is more likely to make things worse, plus breastmilk has so many benefits formula doesn't.

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  3. Your 5 month old daughter sleeps a total of 18 hours in a 24 hours period? If I'm adding up your schedule correctly she sleeps from 8PM until 7:30AM and then naps for 2.75hours, then naps for 2.5hours, then naps for 1.5 hours? Is that Correct? I joined this blog to try to get some help with my almost 7 month son who has just started not sleeping through the night and he had been for months. We started solids and went to a 4hour (babywise) schedule. But i'm not sure if your daughter sleeps that much, that you will be able to help me.

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  4. What do you do when she doesn't like a particular food. I am wondering if I should give my son more of something else when he doesn't want his peas or stop giving him peas all together. I don't want him to be hungry before the next meal but I also don't want to get into the habit of giving him only the foods he likes and not letting him try things he might not prefer. When do you start saying "this is what we are eating and you need to try it"?

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  5. Angie, this is one of the trickiest things with reflux. With my younger two girls, I can always assume they are hungry when they wake early because they normally sleep well. But a reflux baby can be waking from pain as well as hunger, and overfeeding a reflux baby isn't good.What I did with my reflux baby was get her when she woke and then put her in the swing. If she wasn't asleep in ten minutes, I assumed it was hunger and I fed her. If she was asleep, I let her sleep in the swing until her next normal feeding.

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  6. Megan,She sleeps from 8 PM to 7:30 AM at night–so she is sleeping 11.5 hours. I start breastfeedign her at 7:30 PM and don't want to go more than 12 hours between the two feedings.Her first nap is usually 2 hours and 45 minutes.Her second nap is usually 2.5 hours.Her third nap is usually 45-60 minutes.

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  7. Landonsmommy,right now, I keep giving it to her. I don't shove it down her throat, but I still offer the foods she doesn't love when I normally would. I do my best to get what I can in her. Singing helps distract her. Then when she won't eat anymore, we move on to the next food. I start with the food she doesn't like as much. She has some days where she eats it happily and others she won't eat more than a few bites. You can also mix foods together that you know are safe. So Sweet Potatoes and bananas go well together, for example. I would keep exposing him to the foods, but also have other foods you know he will like to eat with the meal as well.

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  8. Valerie,I wondered if you have dropped the swaddle yet? You hadn't mentioned it in a few weeks. My daughter is very close in age to Brinley, and we have also been working on weaning her. It is going slowly so far. Thanks.Sarah

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  9. Hi, Valerie! I found your blog a few weeks ago. It has been so helpful and encouraging! I pray the Lord blesses you and your family. I have a question I hope you'll have time to answer. My husband and I have 1 daughter who will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. She is exclusively breastfed. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks old. I feed her at 7am, 10am, 12:30pm, 3pm, 5:30pm, 8pm, and 10:30pm. She sleeps from 11pm until 7am. It seems we will need to get her on a 3 hour and eventually 3 1/2 hour schedule. My question is: how do we do that? Should I try to keep her awake as long as possible at her 10am feeding and let her wake herself up for her next feeding? Should I gradually do that with all her feedings? Any advice you can give would be great. Thank you again and God bless.

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  10. @ Megan Arnold: My six-month-old daughter just started having similar issues and I'm at a lost so if you hear anything, please share!

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  11. Sarah,we are still working on it. She currently has one arm out for all three of her naps. Our next step will be one arm out at night. Then I will move on to two arms out.

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  12. Bianca,If you are breastfeeding, then what seems to naturally happen is they eat more frequently in the evening than the morning.Don't keep her awake longer than is optimal for her–it will only backfire.There are a lot of options for what to do as you move forward. You are at 7 feedings now. You will have to decide if you want to shoot for the 10:30 PM feeding to go out next or a daytime feeding. Daytime, you could feed at 7, 10, 1, 4, 6, 8, 10:30 until you drop that 10:30 feeding. Or you could do 7, 10, 1, 3:30, 6, 8, 10:30.Or you could keep that longer and go 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, 10:30.Just be mindful that you want to drop only one feeding at a time and guide in the direction you prefer.

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  13. Shannon, I feed one side, then change her into her PJs, then swaddle her up and nurse the other side. I used to nurse her to sleep, but she won't anymore. She stays awake. I put her in bed and she falls asleep quickly.

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  14. Hello! I have a few questions:1. If my five month old wakes before feeding, I hold him off till his normal feeding time but then he goes back down during/immediately after his bottle. Then he wakes hours before the next feeding. How would you handle this situation?2. He is also waking 45 min into his nap (I am aware of the 45 min intruder) and wont go back down. How long would you let him CIO or handle the extende time before the next feeding? Seems we end up with the scenario in my first question. By the he still wakes at night once, due to medical concerns, my worry of noise in our apt, sharing a room with us due to space. We are working through that, starting with the backward slide method. Thank you for your help! God bless!

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  15. Hi!I also am in the same boat with Rena. My five month old will not sleep longer than 50 mins for all her naps. I have let her cry after she wakes up, but she never has gone back to sleep. Sometimes I go ahead and feed her again and adjust her schedule, and sometimes I have her wait until we are close to the time to eat again. . .she is on a 3.5-4 hour schedule. I am breastfeeding and giving her solids much like your schedule for Brinley. This has been going on for weeks. Please advise! Thank you!

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  16. I absolutely love this blog. We have been doing BW since we got home from the NICU and our baby girl absolutely loves it as well. She is a schedule/routine girl just like her momma and it is has been so wonderful for our family. I have a question about solids and bottles. we introduced solids at one feeding with about 2 tsps. of rice cereal mixed with 2 tsps. of breast milk. I was going to add this same thing to another feeding, but my husband was sick with the stomach bug that weekend and us girls were at my parents house and it was just too hectic. Here is her schedule (not including naps)6:15-6:30 – 5.5 ounces of BM with a bottle10:00 – 2 tsps. of cereal mixed ith 2 tsps. of BM and 5.5 ounces of BM with a bottle2:00 – 5.5 ounces of BM with a bottle5:00 – 5.5 ounces of BM with a bottle8:00 – 5.5 ounces of BM with a bottle and down for the night.My question is, do you keep the same amount of milk in the bottles the more solids you introduce or do the bottles need to have less milk in them? I don't want to overfeed her…but I also don't want her too hungry either. I'm also wondering if I need to drop a feeding and go from 5 to 4 feedings during the day. At what week did you do that? And, when we add another solid feeding, does it need to be something other than rice cereal? I read that your first food for Brinley was bananas mixed with BM. Should we do something like that instead of more rice cereal? Thank you so much!Melissa 🙂

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    • I wouldn't change the amount of milk. I would keep that the same. For the 4 feedings question, see my posts on moving to a 4 hour schedule. I did cereal first with my first two kids and that worked great. The exact food you start with isn't important–just make sure it is a food that is gentle on the tummy. With my first two, I did cereal, then orange veggies, then green veggies, then fruits. With my last two, I did random. Both ways worked. I am so glad you lien the blog!

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  17. What if my LO is still waking 2-3 times a night at this age?! It’s my third BW baby and I’m at a loss of what to do. Doesn’t take a paci. I am EBF. Do I start her on solids?

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