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...

fashion gallery 2

here are a few new(er) ones from dd's booty-licious collection. all made by wahm businesses.

these are from cutetooshies, an australian wahm, who has licensed the cuddlebuns design (nappy on the left). cuddlebuns require a separate wrap, which is a bit of a shame since they can be so pretty! the nappy on the right is a pocket nappy with a "giggle flap". the pocket opening is in front instead of at the back of the nappy, as is the usual case.



...another cutetooshies cuddlebuns







this is a wrap + soaker system from a usa wahm, little comet tails.






and another one from little comet tails. the wraps are very pretty but cut on the smaller end of the scale. since dd is rather chubby, i can't use too thick a soaker or else a "builder's bum" effect will result.



these are from american snap-ez. on the left is a flannel nappy which needs a wrap, and on the right, is a pocket nappy. these are chubby medium in size, which dd is now outgrowing, if not already outgrown.


for the record: dd at 27 weeks was 8.7 kg (over 19.18 lbs)

rants and raves

Rave
I found a great sling online, which I have used since Leah was 4 months old. This is a joined 2 pouch system that allows me to slot DD in without too much of a struggle from her. (DH thinks I look like that chap from Total Recall, the mutant with the extra person growing out of his chest.)

I was using a ringsling before, but then DD started to kick and scream when I tried to put her in it. At that stage she was still not able to hold her head well and I could only put her in either the cradle position or the breastfeeding hold. However, as mentioned, she didn't like the sling much for that. Hence the purchase of a MyBabyNest carrier. I didn't need to adjust the yards of cloth with a wriggly baby as well. A lifesaver. She does seem to like being in it. No complaints from her so far.

That said, now that Leah can hold her head properly, I have tried her in the ringsling again, this time in a modified snuggle hold (with her feet sticking out). And she's not objected. In fact, she managed to fall asleep once in it.

Rant
There's one thing that gets my goat in Malaysia and Singapore: seeing families out and about with the maid carrying the baby in a carrier. Anything wrong with this cosy fam scenario?

Hel-lo, baby carriers are meant to help parents with bonding!!! It's like these daddies and mommies think it's cool that it's the help who does the 'menial' task of carrying their children.

I have also been to one baby support group where one mommy brought along her maid. When it came time to do the nappy changing, her maid did it. The mom's main complaint --- and she wanted the rest of us to give our advice --- was how to cope with a baby that wants to feed incessantly and cries all the time, because "the maid has housework to do too." (I was agog, but didn't say what was on my mind: How about YOU take over and carry the baby when it cries then.) When they left, the maid put on a sarong sling and carried the baby.
I have no time for these part-time parents!

halftime report

Now that our favourite teams have been booted out of the World Cup (DH: England, moi: Brazil), I guess I have some time to update this blog.

On Sunday 2 July we started on solids! After much anxiety, nerves, general trepidation... Actually just baby rice mixed with lots of milk. We began with the 11am feed. I fed her a little from the breast first, then when she took a breather we transferred her to her high chair and fed her the baby rice-milk gruel.

As my mom predicted, Leah took to eating with a spoon like a natural ("She's not this size for nothing"). She was even grabbing the spoon and the bowl, wanting to get her little fingers on the meal.

But I am still kinda stressed over the whole idea of solids though, as I am not a cook and the thought of preparing her meals (when she progresses to other things besides baby rice, like sweet potatoes, carrots, pears etc) everyday is scary. I hope I don't overcook them!

The other confusing thing is what to do next. Some books suggest starting with the 11am feed and then switching to the 6pm feed (i.e. keeping it once a day for a few days more), before having 2 meals a day. But one of our paediatricians suggest that we progress to 2 meals a day (breakfast, then lunch), before we move to 3 a day.

Then there's when we should add more baby rice: at the end of the first week or after we have progressed to 3 meals a day?

Ooh, what to do...

As for development milestones: Leah is still not rolling over. This is her 24th week (although her 6th month birthday is still another week away). But she can raise herself up on her arms when I put her on her tummy, and she can put both feet in her mouth now (she explores everything by putting them in her gob).

One of my friends said not to worry about achieving these milestones as her DD only rolled over at 13 months (although she was crawling at 10). I am not really that fussed, honest. But it would be nice to have her more fit; she is tending on the Michelin man side.

At least her neck is much stronger now and when we pull her up from a prone position her head follows her arms.

She went through a babble stage: b's for a week ("bahbahbahbah") but that's over. She now does a semi-near-hysterical "hngh hngh hngh". These past 2 weeks, her voice also changed. It's a bit hoarser now. I wonder if it's anything to do with teething and the excess saliva?

We had a bout of nasty headcolds a month ago. I fell ill first. Took 2 weeks to get over it, then DD caught the bug. I think she quickly got over it though (no green candles issuing from her nose) and seemed none the worse for it too: she still slept okay and ate well. But after she got well I got the bug again. For another week, but in a milder form. This was the first time I was ill since I became pregnant. (I had a cold when I flew to the UK but nothing as bad as this latest round.)

I was a bit twitchy about Leah's cold though --- her first illness afterall. But we didn't need to bring out the Calpol or anything, thank goodness.

This half year has really flown by. We've been making very short videos (from my digital camera) and generally doing a weekly photo op, just to keep a record of her growth. With each new week I forget the previous one and what she was like then. I wonder if this is how mothers cope, reserving energy for the next day of mothering.

Last month, Leah's other set of grandparents (paternal) finally got to meet her. It was a monthlong get-to-know-you session. I don't know what impressions DD will get from this though. Someone joked that babies' memories are just slightly longer than goldfishes'.

Her paternal grandmother is the only person I know who can make Leah laugh just by speaking to her. Something in her tone of voice maybe.

I wonder what the next 6 months are going to bring...