month 5 Sep/Oct-2008

At her U4 medical check-up, Hannah got her first vaccinations. The doctor told us she may be tired and get slight fever. Indeed, in the evening, she had slightly increased temperature, was calmer as usual, and didn't drink the same amount of milk. She went to bed at 22:00, but awoke again at 0:30. She was crying (and yawning at the same time), and nothing could completely calm her down. So she made quite some noise and spilled many tears before finally falling asleep on daddy's arm. And she continued to keep us awake at 3:00 and 7:00 in the night. Fortunately, the next morning, she was her usual self again, happy, alert and smiling.

That was a tough night for her parents. Well, at least we knew the cause of Hannah's discomfort, and that it wasn't something serious and that it would go away soon. Hopefully that'll prepare us a bit for the first real illness…

Hannah is happy when she's allowed to join us at the kitchen table.

last breast feeding

We (well, naturally, mommy had the most active, but also most tenacious role) tried really hard to offer Hannah breast-milk, for all the proven health benefits. It's also cheap and easy to handle, but unfortunately, we were never able to get those benefits. As Hannah had been born small and weak, she got used to the milk bottle, and never became an eager drinker at the breast. The first two months, we had to use a milk pump to offer that precious fluid to her. Then, we were able to accustom her to the breast aided by a breast nutrition set. Through that, Hannah could enjoy the intimacy with mommy, and at the same time she got the missing quantity of milk via baby formula. That setup has worked quite well.
However, everything eventually comes to an end, and after four months (and with a major journey coming up), we decided to retrain Hannah back to the bottle. This'll allow daddy to stand in when mommy's away, and greatly simplify the feeding procedure while on the road. Let's hope Hannah will quickly learn to deal with this…

Last breast feeding — at the start, we never thought it would work so well.

Hannah's still somewhat sceptical;
her parents have to use all the tricks to coax her into accepting the bottle.

Curiously exploring her world…
…until her strength is gone and she starts kissing the blanket.

Poor Hannah has caught a cold; she's coughing, sneezing, and her nose is running. Her body tries to fight off the virus invasion with 38.6°C fever. Though she's crying more than usual and only sleeps lightly (and for short periods — keeping us awake at night as in the first weeks), she's brave, and, most important, keeps drinking. (Though overall, she's drinking too little for her age.)

Hannah's already feeling much better; the fever is gone, and she occasionally even flashes a smile. Hopefully, in a few days, everything will be back to normal again.

Hannah is so active that she can slip out of her baby seat when she isn't fastened to it.

A happy mother.

Asleep after an autumn walk with piggy.

Looking around while covered in warm blankets.

Continue with month 5 - visit of grandparents…