Solid Food - When is the right time to start?

Oliver is growing so quick and is nearly drinking all five 8oz bottles each day. We are trying to hold off on solid food until we really need to. The health visitor has told us that research has now shown that a babies intestines are not all fully developed until around six months and therefore it is better to try not to give solid food to a baby until then. However, if Oliver shows signs that he is not willing to wait then we will feed him sooner, but not before four months of age.

Oliver still wakes up in the night for a feed but once is better than three or four times like in the beginning, and he still is only little. I really don't mind getting up with him and think my cognitive clock is set to four each morning as I usually wake around that time waiting for Oliver to murmur. I hear little murmurs some mornings and then go and make his bottle but by the time I get back upstairs Oliver is asleep. I try not to wake Steve as he has to go to work but I think I have only managed this once since Oliver was born. Of course, Oliver makes little whimpers throughout the night and we hear them so this wakes us up. I don't want to have the monitor down to much because I am worried I will not hear him. I hope that once he starts solids he might skip the 4am feed but I am told he may go backwards for a while first. Fingers crossed for a good night's sleep soon ;-)

Bedtime Story

I have been searching for ages for a little book I used to read to Joshua. For those who don't know, I helped to take care of Joshua when I lived in America, although he is not so little these days and will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah next May. Anyway, I remember a book Joshua used to love called "Goodnight Moon", but I have found it hard to find here until I tried in Borders the other day and to my delight they had two books in stock. We have started to add this into Oliver's night time ritual and hope he will also like this lovely little book.