Luca at 8 Months

And just like that, we have an eight-month-old. EIGHT months! Fastest eight months of my LIFE. It honestly still feels like I’m living in a dream most days. How has it been eight months since I gave birth? How did I ever live without this tiny creature? Wellllllll, I can still remember that actually haha. But really, I look at him every morning, every evening and every second in between and wonder how we created this human. Does that feeling go away? I hope not.

He is now pushing 20lbs. and is 30″ tall, long and lean as my pediatrician says.

I haven’t written a Luca update in a while, really since my Newborn Essentials and New Mama Must-Haves posts a few months back (which are both MUST-READS for sure!!). I am also publishing a post next week on my Must Haves for Months 6-12, so be on the lookout!

Is this post helpful? Please leave me a comment letting me know what you’re going through right now with your little!

8 Month Olds Schedules/Routines

Well, we don’t follow a schedule. I’ve been kind of shy and vague on Instagram both about this and about our sleeping habits (more on that later) because I don’t want to be met with criticism. But I feel like it’s more important to talk about it so here goes!

I read and respond to Luca’s cues for hunger and sleep and kind of revolve our day around that. He does always (pretty much always) wake up at 7:30/8am and go down for a nap at 9:30/10am. He also usually goes to bed at 7/7:30pm. But other than that the day is not set. I feel like with Luca being our only child we have the freedom to do this and I also love being able to pick up and go (almost) whenever I want. We’re not tied down to nap times or feeding times and it totally works for us.

We also do not have a traditional bedtime routine. Luca gets a bath every couple days, not every day, so that is not part of the routine. Basically, it consists of a diaper change, putting pj’s on, getting him in the Nested Bean sleep sack, turning on the sound machine and laying down in bed together to nurse. 99% of the time he passes out within 10 minutes of starting to nurse. More on our co-sleeping below.

8 Month Old Eating Ideas

Luca at eight months is mainly breastfed. I still nurse him on demand which ends up being about every three hours. Sometimes more often if he is in a fussy growth spurt or teething phase and sometimes less often if we’re out and about and he’s occupied. I’ve started to refer to nursing as “milkies” and I think he is understanding because he flaps his arms excitedly and lunges at my breast when I say it. Its the CUTEST!

We started introducing solids at 6.5 months, I would have started sooner but my instinct told me he wasn’t ready. He was barely sitting up unassisted and just wasn’t showing the “interest” everyone talks about. So we waited and introduced foods slowly. Two months later and he’s still not a food lover but he does prefer feeding himself. His favorites are peanut butter, butternut squash and beef. He loves using his little Gootensil spoon to feed himself the peanut butter, I am telling you he wants nothing to do with me feeding him!

I try to give him food every morning or every other morning. If I’m being honest and transparent it’s a lot of work, much easier to whip the boob out IMO, but I want him to explore and get used to eating. The most important thing according to our pediatrician was to introduce him to high-allergy foods like egg and peanut butter and also to start replenishing his iron supplies. Very thankful he likes beef! We give him beef or eggs everyday in order to maintain his iron.

We are doing mainly Baby Led Weaning, which is working really well for us. I tried purees first but he just wasn’t very into them nor was he into allowing me to feed him! So I found Feeding Littles on Instagram and took their online course. Best thing I ever did! It gave me the confidence to try (and continue) BLW with Luca. I love that he now has learned how to chew and I am hoping it helps him be comfortable with and like to eat all different foods as he gets older. The gagging is hard to watch but I just try to stay very positive and encouraging with him!

For more information head to the Feeding Littles website, and use my code CHRISTINECOVINO for $10 either course!

8 Month Old Sleeping Schedule

Like I said above he’s pretty on point with his bed time and wake time (approx. 7:30pm-7:30am) and he takes 3 naps a day, the first one being the most consistent and predictable (at 9:30-10am). The other two naps usually happen on the fly because most days we are either out running errands (so he sleeps in the car or stroller) or we’re at the farm working (in which case he sleeps in the carrier on me). All three naps are usually somewhere between 30mins-1.5hours, rarely do we make it to the two hour mark anymore, sigh! If we are home I usually nurse him down for the nap and try to put him in his crib.

He does wake to eat at night, usually two or three times. Honestly, I sometimes don’t even wake up because he is in bed right next to me and will just find my boob. We started cosleeping from day one with him in the bed in the SnuggleMe (it was easier for me with recovering from the C-section to do it this way instead of the bassinet).

Once he grew out of the SnuggleMe we decided to keep him in the bed because it just felt right. He sleeps between Alex and I but closer to me usually. And I love it. I have found a lot of peace in reading this easy-to-digest article about infant sleep, basically, Luca is going to be a genius and incredibly emotionally stable.

Co-sleeping works for us. Waking up with my baby next to me every morning, seeing his smile and hearing his laugh, there is literally nothing better in this world.

8 Month Old Development

I don’t like to compare babies, it always ends up making mamas feel like something is wrong. NOTHING is wrong. Babies are babies and they develop at different rates. At this point, Luca is sitting up pretty good on his own. He still falls over now and then so I have to really watch him. But he is starting to go from sitting up to launching onto his belly and then rolling all over the place. No sign of crawling yet (thank God). Haha is it bad that I don’t want to rush this inevitable moving phase!? Seriously though, I am trying to savor all these little milestones and I also don’t want to wish away his stationary-blob days!

He has also started to wave which is the CUTEST. He reaches for me, he gets super excited when Alex gets home and he LOVES our dog Doobie. His excited face is adorable and he will sometimes tense up and grunt/scream with an explosion of laughter (which sounds more like a guttural pterodactyl call). Cracks us up every time! He also kicks his chubby legs and flaps his arms when he’s excited or happy. So freaking CUTE.

He loves to be outside, or really just out of the house. He is super friendly to everybody and even smiles at strangers. Not only that, but he even allows strangers to hold him and so far I haven’t noticed any separation anxiety yet!

He loves touching faces, especially mine, and will stick his hand in my mouth while nursing. I think it’s a comfort thing for him. Oh, and he LOVES peek-a-boo! He definitely now understands when something disappears.

Luca lovesss talking! He always has, but now the noises are really developing and I can tell exactly what he wants with every little peep and grunt. He especially loves saying “dadadadada,” he hasn’t correlated it to Alex yet but I feel like it’s just a matter of time. Oh well for Mama being his first word LOL.

As for toys, he gravitates towards anything that makes noise or that he can grab easily (O-Ball brand stuff has been great for this!). But he can also be entertained by simple, everyday items like plastic cups or remotes. Reading books is another favorite activity, he has become much more interactive when we flip through them together.

Lastly, no teeth yet but I am 99% sure he is teething (I use copaiba oil on his gums daily and he is wearing his amber necklace to help with this).

Luca’s Personality at 8 Months

Luca’s personally is, as most babies’ personalities, constantly evolving. This part has been, by far, the most rewarding part about being a mom so far – watching his personality develop and being a part of his little everyday discoveries. Everything is brand new to him and seeing his growth day to day is truly amazing. I can already see that he takes after Alex in many respects, which is a very good thing! He loves meeting new people, petting our dog Doobie (we’re working on “be gentle”) and is in general very “chill.”

He is always generally happy, I get so many comments about “how lucky” I am to have a happy baby. Yes, I do think innate personality characteristics are real to a certain extent and that babies are born with certain inherent traits. But I also believe that the environment has a huge impact on how they grow. Alex and I are both pretty happy/optimistic people and we stay conscious of keeping our arguments or disagreements to ourselves. I don’t know exactly what I am trying to say haha but I just try to keep the atmosphere around Luca light, fun and happy as much as I can!

A funny little trait I’ve noticed: When he reaches for our phones or a dinner utensil he shouldn’t touch and we have to take whatever it is away, he doesn’t freak out, he instead looks at us inquisitively as if to say, “But why mom? I was having fun with that!” I am grateful for this “chill” trait, however, I do know that he might grow out of it eventually (although I hope not!).

 

Thank you for reading! I hope this info was helpful, don’t miss my upcoming post for next week, Must Have Items Months 4-8!