Week 27:

• Mar 25: The day I had waited for so long finally arrived! Baby’s 6 month appointment at the pediatrician’s! I had been counting down each day for a week. I was so excited this morning!
• We arrived punctually at 11:47 am for our 12:15pm appointment. We were asked to arrive at 12pm. We knew the drill now that the extra time was for weighing and measuring the baby.
• We arrived and showed her health card and was immediately asked to enter to get her measurements. For the first time, we didn’t have to remove any clothing or diaper for the weigh-in. Yay! She measured 7.1kg = 15.8lbs 🙂
• There wasn’t an available room yet so we waited outside for a few minutes. Bb was so calm and quiet and looked around the waiting area.
• Only one parent was allowed in again (sucks during this covid period — rare that daddy gets to come too but can’t even partake in the appointment). I waited inside for a few minutes. Bb was starting to get fussy but not too much.
• The pediatrician said she’s on the normal growth rate and in the 50th percentile. She’s growing well that basically there was nothing to worry about.
• He asked if I had started solids yet and I was like, “No, because I was waiting for today for the green light to start! :D” He said she’s good to start on solids. No honey or dairy. Can basically eat and try anything. Avocado, carrots, eggs, fish, chicken, etc. 😀
• He told me so many important things to take note of: now that she’s 6 months old, she may start to get illnesses like runny noses, coughs, and fevers more often. No cough medication for her. Only fever drops (which he recommended to have on hand at home always). (We immediately bought a 24ml bottle from the pharmacy before leaving.) No need to attend hospital for a fever. Monitor at home and follow instructions on the medicine bottle. Next-day phone appointments are available.
• He said she’ll be moving around more and babies this age tend to be prone to falls and injuries a lot. He suggested to buy baby gates especially for the stairs, outlet protectors, tie up wires, and that small loose objects can find themselves into the baby’s mouth. Time to babyproof the house basically.
• He said summer is coming, so put on sunscreen for her. Any sunscreen will do. Baby sunscreen is the same as any other ones. Same thing with insect repellent like the Off brand. It’s safe for use.
• He asked whether she responds when she is called by her name. Yes.
• He asked if she can turn her head with control. Yes.
• He said was she still wobbly when sitting. Yes. Is she able to roll over yet. Not yet but he said it’s normal.
• Does she babble? Yes, a bit.
• I asked him questions too about if she needs water now that she’s starting to eat solids. He said no because what she’s eating will already contain water — true.
• I mentioned me getting mastitis a month ago and it seemed like her bowel movements were affected but slowly getting back to daily. He said now that she’s starting solids, her output will be a new normal again so no worries. Whatever antibiotics from the meds that got into the breastmilk was minimal so no worries either in that regard.
• I asked if she needed probiotics and he said no as they only contain trace amounts anyway.
• Next appointment won’t be until 9 months old in June!
• After that, she got the oral medicine and as well as the single jab in the thigh. She didn’t even cry.
• Once we got home, I was so excited to start the solids with her (!!!).
• The first solids was pureed carrots. Yum. I made it more difficult on myself by dicing and chopping it up into tiny pieces before boiling them in a pot and then mashing them using a potato masher. It would have been a lot easier if I had just steamed the whole carrot and then mashed it afterwards.
• She smelled it and we fed her using a small spoon. She actually received it well and ate a good 4 to 5 spoonfuls. Yay!
• Cutest thing was when she first was given the spoon, she started laughing and giggling. I assume because the spoon hitting the roof of her mouth was such an interesting/tickling sensation to her. So cute.
• Mar 26: The next day, we found the carrots in her poop already! I was so surprised because we fed her the carrots at 4ish pm but by the next morning, she had already processed them. So fast!
• Second day of solids, we fed her mashed avocado and mashed banana. She didn’t like the avocado at all. She pushed it out of her mouth. This avocado happened to be watery and not as creamy.

• She liked the banana. We fed her the mashed banana right after the avocado. She liked the banana but by that point, she was out of patience already and getting fussy. I notice that she can only sit in the high chair for about 10 minutes before she wants to get out.
• She is “sputtering” and “booing” a lot these days. There were many times that we got her spit on our faces already.

• Mar 27: New food today was the Gerber rice cereal we got as a free sample. It’s easy to make by adding lukewarm water to the white powder. I didn’t use up the entire bag as I wasn’t sure how she would take to it. I mixed a little bit of the powder with water. It was a watery substance. She wasn’t a huge fan of it yet wasn’t overly fond of it either.
• She felt a bit warm to the touch so we monitored her. We took her temperature for the first time using the digital ear thermometer and I initially wrongly used the 0 to 3 month setting which showed her temp as normal. However, once I realized my mistake and took her temperature again, she was slightly fevering at 38.2. It was still a low grade fever. Before giving her any fever meds, we continued to feed her breastmilk to make sure she was hydrated and by nighttime she was back to below 38 degrees and not warm. Yay.
• Mar 28: She slept incredibly well, waking up only twice during the night to feed. Yayy. There were many times during the night too where she woke up but was able to get herself back to sleep (even after yelling a bit to herself).
  • I’m trying to keep my supply up still.
• She’s started to sleep sideways these days..

• We gave her pureed spinach to try! The consistency was so smooth. She ate a bit but wasn’t too fond of it. I tried it afterwards and I can understand how it has a slightly bitter taste that’s very different to breastmilk and what she’s been used to.
• We consciously fed her a small bottle of formula today, the first bottle in more than 6 months of age! I’m okay with giving her formula not only because my supply is still not what it used to be but because she’s starting solids now it’s good for her to “taste” more flavours (and she needs the iron too).
• We fed the 60ml of formula to her when she was hungry so she took it all right away. She appeared to show some confusion during the first couple of swallows but then finished it all. Good girl.
• Mar 30: In her poo, we could see the spinach and banana strings and carrot bits still. Her poop was soo stinky today. I think it was the formula she had yesterday. She didn’t have any formula today, so hopefully tomorrow her poop will be back to the sweeter smelling exclusively breastmilk fed type of poo.
• Speaking of poop, she is pooing once a day again. Yay.
• I’m making just enough breastmilk these days. Since I’m okay to supplement with formula, I feel less stress to provide for her. But with that being said, I am still diligently pumping every 4 hours minimum (6 or so during the night) to build back up my supply again.
• When doing tummy time, she can easily do 10 minutes at a time. She doesn’t complain until the end. She has lifted herself up on her elbows pretty straight. Nowadays I start the countdown from 20. Once I start counting down, she stops yelling, smiles, does the “superman” pose, and basically keeps herself busy and listens as I count down to 1.
• When taking a bath this week, she’s learned to kick her legs back and forth so vigorously that the water splashes out from the tub and onto the floor. So many splashes.