Sleep Training & Weaning

Caity's almost 7 months old now. How time flies. This is the second night that we're getting baby to stay asleep in her crib without the constant attachment to my breast. My hubby's a real trooper. Last night after Caity fell asleep (sigh...with help from me) we put her in her crib. Sure enough after about an hour, she realized that she was no longer comfortably by my side and let out what Vin described as a rusty old motorcycle growl-cry. "Waaa-wa-uhh-wauh"

Since Caity associates me with the breast, Vin had to keep picking her up, soothing her and putting her back down. It's supposed to be a tried and true method which doesn't traumatize the child by leaving him or her to cry it out all alone. It's a tedious method as some parents have been known to do this method up to 100 times in one night. However that's with older kids who are used to having their own way. Most babies develop a set sleep pattern by the time they're six months old and are pretty resistant to change. I was prepared to stay up the whole night picking up the baby, patting her and then putting her down again. Thank God, bless little Caity's soul, she only needed 5 rounds. In the 3rd round, she was really wailing and my heart was breaking. I was ready to give up. However, Vin stuck with it. As a result, last night Caity stayed in her own crib except for a 1am feed and 6am feed. Just now, Vin did about 3 rounds of cry-pick up-soothe-put down again. We'll see how it goes. 

 Perhaps she didn't inherit the stubborn gene from both sides of the family after all. I hope that she turns out to be the adaptable, happily-adjusted sort. It turns out that as afraid as I was about weaning her, Caity might not be as difficult as I had initially anticipated. This afternoon, we were in the mall and she got hungry. I refused to unbutton my blouse. In the end, she lapped up 4 ounces of formula. The catch was that she wanted me to hold her and do the feeding. With the maid, she kicked and fussed a lot. When I held her, she was much more relaxed. At night, to take some pressure off I started bottle feeding just before bedtime. Last night was the first time I did it. She was upset at first but then she managed to take in about 2 ounces. Tonight when I tried it, she happily finished all of 3 ounces in less than 5 minutes. It would have taken much longer to bfeed her the same amount. Also, less problems with dozing off in the middle of a feed. Maybe I'm the one who's hanging on to bfeeding. So ironic considering I struggled with it so much in the beginning. 

Well, at least we're getting somewhere. I mean, at least Caity now understands that it's okay to take milk from the bottle when I AM around. In the past she would have refused the bottle and cried for her "nan nan" instead. Maybe it's just that she wanted to be close to me. She's become a lot more "manja" towards me of late. It's not that she wants me to carry her all the time. In fact, I've begun leaving her to play on her own for 10 to 15 minute intervals. It's more like she just wants to be able to see me in the room or lay next to me and play. Of course she still wants me to hold her. I suppose it's a survival instinct thing. Nature's way of ensuring that babies always stick to the primary care-giver. Thankfully in my absence, she's good with the maid. Not totally happy though. She still prefers having me around but at least she doesn't melt down completely or becomes too moody. 

Lately,  Caity keeps smiling at me like she's in love with her Mommy. I just looked at her this morning and thought to myself that she's going to have a lot of suitors when she grows up. She just has this winning girly-flirty smile. It's not just me. I've seen how she wins over perfect strangers over and over again. 

Okay now, a side story. I left work today and was rushing to buy lunch back for Kelvin and the maid. On the way, a bus driver honked me. I looked over at the side mirror and didn't see anything wrong with the car. It wasn't until several hours later that I remembered I had some picture frames which I had painted while I was in school and had wanted to bring home. I was like, "where are the frames?" Then I remembered that I had placed them in a box on the top of the car and I must have just driven off with the frames still on top of the car. Later I drove by the exact spot that the bus driver had honked me and actually saw my picture frames smashed at the side of the road. Sigh. All that effort for nothing. Oh well, I'm meant to have better picture frames I suppose. Luckily, the frames were given to me FOC.  

1st fall

I knew it would happen sooner or later. The thing is I've been so careful that I was complacent. Last night Caitlin fell straight down off the edge of my bed. Luckily I put a pillow beside my bed as a manner of habit and it slowed down her fall. When she cried at about 2 in the morning, I lifted her to her spot on my bed and put her down. Then I laid down beside her and got ready. Before I could put my breast pad down on the pillow, I heard a "thud". My senses jolted awake and I broke out in a sweat. "Oh no! Oh no!" I kept saying which woke Vin up too. At first I couldn't find the baby since the pillow was still at the side of the bed and I didn't have my specs on. Then I caught sight of her legs and was so desperate to have her in my arms that it felt like I was taking too long having to "peel" her off the floor. By this time, she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

I must have been hilarious. I put her on the bed and proceeded to extend each limb like she was some kind of wooden puppet to make sure it nothing was dislocated. Then I flipped her over to examine the back of her head. Every time she squirmed or kicked, it made me feel a little bit better. 

Sigh. Even after feeding her, I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours after. Vin had no such problem. He said the next day that once he saw that I was satisfied that she was okay, he went back to sleep.

Mastitis

It all started with Caitlin being a little more rough than usual during her feeding. She was pulling off quite violently while still sucking hard on the nipple. There was some soreness of course but nothing worse than what would usually heal in one or two days. Unfortunately, 2 nights ago I had chills, my entire body ached and I had a fever. It was so bad that I decided to cancel whatever work engagements I'd made the next day. My entire breast was swollen and every time the baby nursed again the let-down sensation was almost unbearable. I'd read about this condition somewhere either in the baby books or on the web. In my feverish dreary state I recalled reading how one woman got a breast infection and developed an abscess. She had to undergo an operation to drain the puss out. When it returned a second time, she had to give up breastfeeding altogether.

I just curled up into a ball and prayed for God to heal my breast. Luckily I had read that the best way to go is to just continue nursing because the worse thing that could happen is that all your milk ducts are so swollen that your breast become engorged as well. I also vaguely remembered that the baby wouldn't be affected even if the milk came from my infected breast. 

By morning, the swelling had gone down just a little but I was still feverish. Also, somehow my armpit was a little sore. I saw the doctor in the morning who assured me that I didn't have an abscess and that the antibiotics he was about to give me would be safe for the baby. Later I read that less than 1% of women who have mastitis get abscesses. The only thing is to prevent it from happening again. I'm definitely going to rub some lanolin on my nipples the next time they feel sore.

At the moment, I feel much better and I'm going to work tomorrow but I still can't move my arm without winching. The medicine that I took did have any affect on the baby though. I noticed that she became more drowsy after I took the painkillers. I've since stopped the painkillers but since I have to continue with the course of antibiotics, I try to time it such that when Caitlin goes to my in-laws during the day, I pump out the milk before I take the meds and then at night, I feed her again before taking the meds. 

She's taking 2 meals of solids now. However, it's inconsistent. It takes a lot of coaxing from the maid and myself to get her to eat if I'm around. She still trying to wrap her head around the concept that it's okay to eat something else besides breastmilk even if I'm around and "available". Thank God her grandmother cooks a nutritious baby porridge. It's lovingly slow-cooked with a slice of pork to create a stock and later carrots or spinach is finely chopped and added to the soft porridge. It's way better than the commercial baby porridges that come in a tin. Unfortunately, she's still prefers the breast so I had to experiment with all sorts of different baby porridge options. 

On a more positive note, Caitlin's eczema has cleared up about 90%. I decided to just use my own Clarins (because all their ingredients are from natural sources) lip balm and cocoa butter moisturizer from Body Shop. It's been working like a charm with no side effects. 

Genetics

Isn't it amazing how much of ourselves is reflected in our children. For example, Caitlin looks so much like I looked when I was a baby that my uncles and aunts cannot stop talking about it. Of course they would know; they watched me grow up after all. All of them look a little alike each other anyway so they get a kick out of seeing their genetic material get passed down to another generation. I in turn, look a whole lot like my father. In fact my mother always says that I inherited everything from him: his brains, his looks, right down to his walk.

However, it's not fair to say that Caitlin only has MY genetic material. It seems that she's inherited her father's sense of humour. Two days ago I was feeding her and she bit down hard on my nipple. When I yelped in pain and surprise, she immediately followed with a giggle. Then, for the heck of it, she bit me a second time. This time, I forced myself not to giggle along with her. A combination of surpressed laughter and mock sterness resulted in a sort of constipated look on my face. Hopefully, she got that biting Mommy isn't a game. It seems she's also inherited her Daddy's sensative skin. Vin used to break out in rashes all the time. Sand used to make him break out in blisters. In the span of one week, I've seen my daughter go from small little heat induced bumps to eczema on her mouth to full blown hives. Vin says she'll outgrow it but I'm upset of course. I've already given up seafood. Could it be that I've cut down on the breastmilk and therefore she's MORE sensative?

Caitlin just loves her "Between the Lions" video. She can sort of sit up by herself if I jam her in between two pillows. However, after a while she just falls over sideways.

6 month mark

I'm glad to say that except of a bout of eczema we discovered the other day. Caitlin's happy, healthy and developing really well. Just brought her to the PD today. She's 6.83kg, 64cm tall and 41cm around the head. Hence, although she started out in the top of her age group for size and weight, she's not slowed a bit and is on the petite side. Not that I mind though. Kelvin's worried she'll be a shorty like me. However, I said it's too early to tell yet. 

Feeding

She's on breast milk about 50% of the time now. I feed her when I return home at 5pm, another time at 7 or eight and after her bath again at 9pm. She then sleeps till about 3am when she wakes for another feed. At about 5am or 6am, I'll feed her again before going to work. During the day, she's taking 14 to 16 ounces of formula, one serving of rice cereal and a baby cracker now and then. She really enjoys the cracker. She likes holding her herself and licking it; then the sensation of "chewing" the mushy stuff with her gums. She's learned to hold the bottle by herself. So when the maid feeds her formula, she'll hold the bottle with both hands while she's feeding. If she's had enough she'll pull the teat out of her mouth. Caitlin's also learned to drink from a cup. When she sees Daddy and Mummy drinking anything, she'll stretch out her hand. If I'm not sick I'll let her have a sip of water from my glass. We started training her to drink water from a large spoon and then from a cup that has a spout attached. Therefore, she knows that juice and water comes from a cup rather than a bottle. 

Physical Development

Caity can stand on our lap now. She even takes a few steps if we hold her upright. Recently I bought a toy that spins and travels round and round with music. She "walked" after it when it got stuck in a corner. She's gotten really good at rolling onto her stomach from her back. Recently, she's just learned to roll the other way. She's getting quite sophisticated with her hands too. She can pinch, reach, cup her hands, pick up toys from the floor and pass objects from one hand to the other. She enjoys peek-a-boo type games.

Social and Neurological Development

She is curious about everything and everyone. She'll laugh when strangers talk to her. Today when she was being examined by the PD, she smiled and coo-ed at the PD. We played with her during the jab and she didn't even feel it. She's become very confident and no longer becomes startled by loud noises. She's falling asleep at a regular time every night and can now sleep up to 6 hours at a stretch. She's starting to understand certain words (I think). She will look in the right direction when I ask her "where's daddy". She's observing every day objects that we use like the telephone and when she sees items that are familiar, she'll look at them like she knows what they're for.