food, poo, moo

31 weeks: 9.05 kg & about 68cm

(solid) food
to recap...we started leah on solids at 5.5 months, mainly because she seemed ready for the " leap": instead of sleeping through from 8pm to 7am she was waking up earlier and also getting to sleep later, requiring a longer night feed; she would observe us eating and drinking; and she was on the large side for size and weight.

initially i just expressed and mixed the milk with baby rice and gave her a feed at around 11am (1 feed/day only to start). this lasted till we did 2 feeds/day.

i quickly got bored with baby rice and bought a hand blender (one of those you use to make milkshakes) to puree cooked food. i then started cooking porridge (brown rice) and vegetables. with a hand blender it started becoming a bit more fun as i can experiment with a few different veggies, like carrot, potato, courgette, sweet potato, broccoli.

i am slowly introducing a few more flavours to her diet. but it does seem that she doesn't like the leafy greens as much as the tuber and root veggies.

the little madam offers her opinion quite decidedly: it's either a "blech" and the food gets spat out, or she just gulps down each mouthful (sometimes grabbing the spoon and/or bowl for more).

once i tried her on avocado, which she seemed to enjoy. however, she managed to vomit the lot out a few hours later. i wonder if it is too rich? anyway, i am avoiding reintroducing the fruit till she gets a bit older, till her tummy gets " mature" enough to take richer foods.

stuff she likes: sweet potato, potato, carrot, apple (with cinnamon), pear, papaya (pawpaw)

stuff she doesn't like (as much): broccoli, baby kailan, banana

currently, we are only doing 2 solid meals. i did escalate to 3 a few weeks ago, but dd then became uninterested in her evening meal and her last milk feed. i am waiting to see when she will be ready for 3 meals, but actually, i am kind of happy to stick to 2 for now. feeding dd solids does play havoc with my bf routine.

in fact, our routines are always changing as dd wakes anytime between 6-8.30am!

milk supply
around the time dd started solids my period came. that was a tad traumatic.

this was because during this time leah needed to feed more at night (i nurse her to sleep). i then became more anxious, wondering if i was producing enough milk. panic was setting in: i couldn't bear the thought that i might need to wean her early if supply dried up.

but after my period ended it seemed that the supply got back to normal and dd's nod-off time became more regular and she was waking at her usual time of 7am.

i found that drinking a brew of fennel seeds (and sometimes peppermint tea) seemed to help when supply was low.

at the moment supply seems to fluctuate. sometimes i wake up quite engorged, but other times it's okay. these days though i have the breastpump to hand in the mornings so that i can ease the engorgement before letting dd have her first a.m. feed.

poo
it is a bit sad but since becoming a parent, i seem to be scatologically fixated: constipation is now a regular occurrence for dd since starting solids.

nowadays, waiting for dd to poo is a bit like waiting for the monsoon to break. there is a palpable tide of relief when she manages to poo (btw, her facial expression as she poos is hilarious: she goes bright red and occasionally makes the "mmm" sound as she concentrates) --- on her side, her father and me! when her maternal grandfolks are around, the stress and relief are shared and we get the elders participating in trying to get her to poo successfully. makes for such warm family get-togethers, natch.

while bf poo was squishy, explosive (sometimes) and dribbly, solids' poo is more compacted, like adults'. it does make it easier to dispose: simply wrap around with bogroll paper, pick up, drop into toilet bowl and flush. however, as it is drier, the poor little mite does need a lot of energy and help to push the poo out!

moo
dd is still far from crawling. she has rolled over once or twice, but she doesn't seem to remember how to roll over (or maybe she doesn't want to?) and doesn't do it often unless i am around and " force" her to do so by enticing her with toys.

however, she is babbling lots, cooing and singing to herself. and she can sit up quite alright too. a midwife told me that babies that sit up well seem less inclined to crawl, as they can be happy/contented playing with the surrounding toys.

but leah is NOT completely happy just sitting there. these days she is quite demanding and needs me to be near her as she plays. and when she gets tired of the toys she wails too.

plus, i used to be able to amuse her with some simple things, like going through a book and making animal sounds ("look, a cow. cows go 'mooo-oooo'.") but she is not buying it now. i wonder if her attention span is shortening. yikes, scary thought.

it does mean accelerating what i need to get done around the house. or be content to do chores in parts. this is troublesome when i cook her meals though. sometimes i put her in a sling and bring her into the kitchen with me. but it can be dangerous now with her roving fingers, as i found out recently.

a couple of days ago my dad and i brought her to a department store, and we were happily browsing when a woman suddenly addressed me in mandarin: she's chewed it till it's mushy (rough translation). i had no idea what this woman was talking about till she pulled something from dd's hands and showed me --- a pair of baby shorts with a price tag dripping with saliva and with one edge all chewed up. the woman gave me a rather disbelieving (she probably wondered how i could let my child do this) and disapproving look before walking away with her toddler.
as my dad had been holding dd with her facing his back, she must've caught this pair of shorts when her cruising fingers brushed against the shelves of merchandise. no wonder she was all quiet and 'well behaved' as we shopped!
anyway, i had a quick surreptitious look around to check that no salesgirls were in sight before chucking the pair of shorts with the offending price tag onto a shelf.

*sigh*...oh to have a me clone...