Week 26:

• Mar 18: Counting down the days until the pediatrician appointment next week so that he can give us instructions on how to proceed with starting solids. I’m struggling to produce enough milk for her daily consumption recently so I’m hoping that once she gets the green light to begin solids that it will fill her up and my milk will be sufficient again.
• It’s interesting how different pediatricians give different opinions and advice. When talking to other mommy friends, one mom already started her baby on solids as of month 4 while another mom was advised to begin starting at month 5. My baby’s pediatrician suggested we start at month 6 because she’s exclusively breastfed and the longer she’s on breastmilk, the lower her chance of having food allergens would be. I can’t wait to give her foods and watch her reactions. We’re thinking to start her off with avocado and vegetables; in particular carrots, sweet potatoes, choyate.
• She’s officially 6 months old now!!! “Where has the time gone”, etc etc.
• She responds to our every move and reaction these days. She’s really a little person now and not a “lump” of baby who only feeds, poos, and sleeps. It’s more joyful to play with her even more these days. 🙂
• Love that she can find joy in anything and everything. I was drinking a boxed drink (Vitasoy) while holding her. As I finished the end of the drink and the sucking of the straw created a sucking sound, she giggled and laughed. I did it purposely for about a minute even though I was done the drink and she kept laughing and giggling during that whole minute. Dad captured it on camera 😀
• When she was sitting in the swing, I took a piece of freshly laundered shirt and waved it over her body and face. The laughter and giggles began. Babies are entertained with anything. Who needs toys?
• When she sleeps with her arms out of the sleep sack, she raises them up her head and it’s so cute.
• I took for granted the days when I had over 850ml of milk output each day. My average now is 720ml 😫. I’m working hard to keep up.
• She had rosy cheeks the other day; must be from teething.
• She drools so much these days. She loves sticking her fingers into her mouth. She’ll “talk” and blabber with her hand(s) in her mouth.
• Been taking daily walks outside again. After hermitting all winter and gaining some serious weight, it’s time to activate and shed the muffin top and extra layers.
• It is soo nice to walk outside again now that it’s getting warmer. I miss zumba so much. I’m hoping to schedule those in again…
• Mar 19: She started shaking her head from left to right vigorously. I guess this means she has found her head control. She also started to curl her legs all the way up and grab her knees. (Also learned the head shaking is a soothing mechanism.)
• When we hold her, she grabs our arms like a koala bear.
• I did some skin to skin today and I think it might have aided my milk supply a bit. I was topless and watching her play in the exersaucer when my left side started leaking (yay).
• Love that she doesn’t have to feed every hour on the dot anymore. We were able to go on two separate 25 min walks with her doing just fine without an immediate feed. She was fully awake for the first one and passed out on the second walk.
• Bought a crinkle cutter knife to begin the Baby Led Weaning process. I’m so excited to have her start on solids! 6 days left :]
• She’s started to lick items that come close to her or she’ll lean close and lick it. Yay, this is a sign she is starting to be interested in foods.
• Her giggles are the cutest. Her smiles just radiate into my soul.
• It’s still hard to put her to bed at night …
• During pregnancy, I used to be so on top of nutrition by reading up on the benefits and nutritional info of various fruits and veggies. I’m more cognizant of what I’m eating again. That GD diet really helped me stay slim and not overindulge on carbs. As I alluded to already, it’s time for me to eat healthier and be more active again to shed the extra pounds. Spring is around the corner (here actually) and I can’t hide out in loose tops and baggy coats anymore 😂.
• Mar 24: Didn’t jot down daily milestones as they happened Mar 20 to 24 since I’ve felt so tired and busy. Several things: She can sit unassisted for a few more seconds now. She is teething for sure. She has stuffed toys into her mouth — that crinkle toy, the mirror star toy. I even held up the donut chewy to her and she bit so hard on it. Because of the teething, she has had a voracious appetite. We started to calculate how much milk she intakes for the month of March and it fluctuates daily from 630ml to 880ml. No wonder I am able to keep up with her supply on some days and other days I have to pull the frozen stash from the freezer.
• Speaking of the freezer, we’re really whittling it down to the zero mark. I can see the back of the freezer. At this rate, we will finish all the frozen bags by end of April or sooner. 😦 (fingers crossed)
• My supply is whack. It’s like my breasts are broken even since the mastitis :(. I have been working so hard to pump 4 times a day (can’t mentally manage 5; I’m so tired), but it’s still not enough or increasing back to what I used to have. I definitely took the 850ml+ per day for granted when I had it. I wish I had bagged even more milk back then. Thank goodness I never went through with donating my milks either or else my own wouldn’t have enough; I’d have to resort to forumla. There’s nothing wrong with feeding formula but I feel very accomplished and motivated to give her what nature intended if I am capable of producing. I’ll keep going. At least she is getting breastmilk daily still — I made it to the 6 month mark of exclusively feeding breastmilk! 🙂
• She is so needy these days. Can’t put her down for a few minutes without her needing to be “entertained” or occupied with something. It’s so tiring.
• We have been taking daily walks with her. Only on a few occasions did she fall asleep quickly on her own. Other times, she fussed a bit. We brought her out of the stroller and put her back in, and then she finally fell asleep.
• I have been counting down the days. Tomorrow is the pediatrician appointment. We get to see if she is on track for growth, meeting her developmental milestones, and the green light to start on the solids! I have so many questions for her pediatrician: what is the best first solid food to start her off with? Does she need water once she starts on solids? Can I give her a probiotic and, if so, which one? (Blanking out.. I had so many questions before..)
• When in her crib, she turns 180 degrees these days upon waking up. She is good at turning.
• She has started to arch her back wayyyy more. She should be rolling to tummy. Any day now..
• Poops have been daily or every other day now. Damn mastitis affected my supply and her daily poops 😦
• Bought natto and yogurt and kefir to boost my probiotic consumption to better my gut health in hopes it will help her too.
• She’ll hold a toy or object in her hand, look at it, and then drop it.
• When left behind on a chair and she’s tired, she has a super grumpy face.
• Every resource says that the more often I remove milk, the more I’ll make. I haven’t seen evidence of that yet still so this is why I think my breasts are broken. Sigh. I’ll keep hydrating and nourishing myself, but it’s a frustrating journey when I don’t see results.
• Finally bought and fitted her with some bandana bibs to soak up her drools. A nice mom sold me 11 bibs, 19 pairs of socks, 3 mittens, and a newborn outfit for $5 on fb marketplace (!!!).

• Last night (Mar 23) finally received the Papabli duckbills in the mail. I ordered the nemesupply version about a month ago but the order got lost. I finally cancelled and got my refund and reordered this which came in two days. Other moms say these duckbills have better suction than the medela valves so I wanted to try it out to see if it would increase my output (and easier to clean because it’s one piece). Hmm. I “honk” when I am pumping with these so far.. it’s annoying and loud. I’m hoping the sound is from needing to break it in first. The duckbill lip is so tight that there was a bit of backflow..ugh..but overall it does have a stronger suction than the medela valves. But overall I still feel like the suction power isn’t as strong as it used to be. Why is pumping so frustrating these days?!
• I don’t even fill up past 250ml at a session anymore.
• She loves to “bounce” when held up. She can really kick and bounce on those legs of hers.
• When changing her diaper in the washroom, she will look backwards in the mirror to look back up at us. She’s always quiet and studying us when we change her diaper in the washroom.
• She got promoted to “older female cousin” this past week! The family is growing 🙂
• Still can’t believe our extended family members have missed all of her babyhood. By the time things seem safe again in a post-pandemic world, she will probably be more than a year old…
• She always has her fingers in her mouth for comfort these days.
• When we are eating and we wave a food in front of her, she actually tries to grab it or approach to bite it. 😂
• The only surefire way to pause her fussiness is to place her on tummy time. She loves being on her tummy. Maybe it’s all the positive reinforcement she gets from it.
• When bathing, she kicks her legs so hard and fast that water splashes out from the tub and onto the floor. She is always calm and content in the bath tub.
• (As of Mar 20) She can grab her knees easily and often does. She can reach her toes finally with both hands!
• She always smiles when I bring her to the mirror. She sees herself and me. This week, while looking into the mirror and seeing me, she actually turned and looked at me directly. That means she knows it is a mirror and I’m reflected in it. She probably doesn’t know the baby is herself yet though.
• She continues to blabber. She makes the most interesting noises and babbles with her fingers in her mouth.
• I have noticed less hair loss this week. A few strands here and there and nothing like what I was losing last week. Hmm.
• We started putting her in the ball pit this week. She doesn’t really “play” in it just yet. She needs to sit up properly more first. She can hold the small plastic balls pretty well actually though.
• There was a night this week where she slept 6 hours straight! She woke up once or twice before that but from 1am to 7am, she was sound asleep. Daddy actually woke up a few times to check on her. Baby, please sleep like this more often… (averaging nightly wakeups every 2.5 to 3 hours still).
• During the most recent story time, she tugged on the pages of the board book. She can’t turn the pages herself though but feeling the book is a good start. Also, after touching the book, she actually brought it to her mouth and wanted to eat it lol. I pulled the book away. Books aren’t meant to be eaten :]