My Princess is three months old today. I'm trying not to be a super sap as I write this, but I can't. Looking back at last month, Ava is a completely different baby (as far as development goes) I'd mentioned in previous posts how she was sleeping through the night (that continues to happen) She can hold her own hand, shake her rattle, move from one side of the tummy time mat to the other. The list goes on. Some of my favorite Ava essentials this past month would have to be

Ava's Bumbo. She has great head control, this floor seat just helps her sit up right. She loves it! We always place it on a flat surface and we make sure Ava is buckled in! This seat has become one of our daily activities for Princess A. 

This next LOVE of mine was actually a gift from Ava's Great Aunt. I'd seen these before, but hadn't thought to purchase. Ava was already going down to sleep just fine with her cloud b giraffe. This SoundSpa Lullaby has a projection for baby. Ava loves watching the Cows jump over the moon. The stars, and the fish disc. There are different discs with different images that appear on the wall from the projection! It's so fun. Princess A coo's at the images ALL THE TIME. It also has a sounds feature. The ocean, heartbeat, etc. It's like a 2 in 1 soother. Perfect for her restless nights. 

It's become a rare occasion, giving Ava a bottle. When we do, we use Playtex Ventaire. It was designed for babies switching between breast and bottle or transitioning from breast to bottle feeding. We tried Avent bottles with Ava. The bottles that had the "like nipple" feature, wasn't a hit with her. I thought she was just struggling (because of the bottle transition) turns out she just didn't like them. These bottles are great! Easy to clean. (I NEVER put anything in the dishwasher) I always hand wash everything. They never have residue, and Ava can feed from them like a champ! 

Another item I have come to love would be bibs. Princess A has become such a drool baby lately. Apparently it's in large part to her producing more saliva than she can swallow. Fun fact about drool is that Ava's drool coats toys and other objects with disease-preventing proteins.

Everything with my sprout has been great. I am back to feeling like my old self (I have for some time now) I'm happy, I'm active, and I've gotten a lot better about taking my sprout out places. I'm stoked Ava doesn't have to go for another round of shots until next month. I am excited to see how much she weighs and if she's gotten any longer! 

Heating things up

I continue to spend a good chunk of time reading up on newborn care, rather than pregnancy care. Today I came across the subject of warming up expressed milk or formula. Apparently a lot of parents these days spend several months of their newborns lives heating up their little one's milk. The recommended way to do this is to put a bottle of breast milk or formula into a bottle warmer or saucepan of warm water until the milk is warm. You can also hold a bottle under running water for a few minutes.

Despite having convenient options, a lot of parents are tempted to use a microwave. Before you give into temptation, educate yourself ! Microwaves are known to heat unevenly, creating potentially dangerous hots spots in the middle of liquid, not to mention destroying the protective antibodies found in breast milk. Another thing to keep in mind are potentially toxic chemicals that may leach out of plastic bottles when heated in the microwave. For those reasons, it is recommended that you avoid the use of microwaves altogether for the purpose of warming bottles. 

If you are still determined to use the microwave, it's been strongly suggested to only do so with formula (NOT BREAST MILK) for no more than a few seconds at a time, and that you make absolutely sure to take extra precautions to mix the formula well and make sure it's not too hot before giving it your baby. 

Source of all information found in this post.