Mythbusters, HG-style

There are many "old wives' tales" about pregnancy and babies. They seem to be harmless and even fun, but if I've learned anything, it's that they're rarely true. 

So I should have known better than to believe the tale that feeding cereal makes baby sleep longer. However, as HG's nice sleep schedule began to digress, the tale of sleep-inducing cereal offered me hope. Hope for sleep.

Hope (noun): A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

So just a couple weeks ahead of our four month goal we experimented with cereal for the first time...

HG is so unsure of this very first bite.... a spoon??

If that's not a "what-the-heck-are-you-doing-to-me?" face, I don't know what is.

After almost a week of cereal, in addition to the nightime bottle, HG's sleep patterns are even worse. She's now awake at all hours. Sure, she'll eat whenever she wakes, but what she really wants is attention and playtime! Her alertness and smiling and cooing and scooting is all very cute, and during normal hours is even congratulated.... but waking every hour or two during the night is no bueno for mom and dad.

So after a little research I've figured out that there is a such thing as the [dreaded] "4-month Wakeful Period," and while that sounds like an old wives' tale, it's actually true. We are proof. Hopefully, it won't last too long since she's about to hit the four month mark, but until then there's no rest for the weary!

Alas, we still give her cereal because despite the lack of sleep-inducing properties, HG is learning how to eat from the spoon and swallow almost half of what mommy puts in her cute little mouth (one of the features she definitely got from daddy!). Oh, it's still a messy process, but we sure have fun!!