The Pookie is growing. He turned 6 months yesterday, and that's a big milestone in the life of babies. A big milestone for growing. There is a 6-month growth spurt. There is a developmental (growth) spurt around the 6-month mark. And there are teeth growing in--well about to come in anyway.
Growing, growing, growing. And growing physically requires more to eat. And growing developmentally requires comfort. And growing in teeth requires pain-easement. And in a breastfeeding relationship, all these things generally boil down to nursing for nurishment, comfort and to ease any pains.
And do you know what my baby boy loves above all else in the world even when everything is hunky dory? To NURSE! Yes, he does.
So can you guess what we are doing all. the. freaking. time? You got it. Nursing.
But remember how Mommy goes to work all day long? Yeah, it's causing some problems. The two major ones being:
1. I'm not pumping enough to cover what he is eating during the day. This means my precious freezer stash is running precariously low. It also means that I am going to have to start pumping more at work and/or at home. Ugh.
2. The baby boy basically wants to nurse all night long. Nothing else will do.
I remember when the Pumpkin went through these stages where she'd nurse all night long. It was frustrating and tiring and hard on me, and it is right now as well. But I know that it's just a phase, and I can already see he's grown physically and developmentally. The teeth haven't come in yet, but they will. This phase will end.
Until then, we are working on other methods of nurishment and comfort for him. We've started him on solids, using the baby-led weaning/feeding method we did with the Pumpkin. So far, we've given him avacodos and bananas. He has no idea what to do with the food, but he'll figure it out. He seems to enjoy tasting the foods, even though he doesn't swallow anything.
I'm also starting to try and help him discover his hand/fingers to suck on at night, instead of my nipples. He used to take the pacifier at least a little, but is now rejecting it completely. So instead, I'm hoping he learns to self-soothe with an arm and hand unswaddled. We'll see.
On the bright side of all the growing, he is now rolling over back-to-front and front-to-back with abandon. Although not yet crawling, he is shifting, rolling and squirming all around. He's getting really close to staying sitting up on his own. He's really capable with his hands and manipulating all sorts of things with hands and fingers.
Also, his careless babbling has now become very deliberate attempts at making noises and trying to talk ("di DI da da DA"). And he is usually laughing and smiling and generally pretty easy and happy. As long as he's well-rested and well-fed. He loves watching his sister and his dog, and he's starting to be fun to interact with for them too!
5 comments:
Oh ugh. Growth spurts are extra hard when you're working and pumping.
I remember having the best luck with a combination of fenugreek and hamburgers (for the protein). I'd take fenugreek for several days, and work on getting my protein intake up- this provided an excellent excuse to go out for hamburgers for lunch.
Hang in there! I don't have to tell you that it gets better. (We won't talk about the part where it gets worse again....)
How is it possible he is SIX MONTHS OLD ALREADY????? If your baby is getting older, that means mine is too. Wah.
Isn't it lovely how the second time around the things you remember as being absolutely unbearable with the first one are so much more bearable because you *know* they will end? I guess we knew they would end before, but now we have the concrete proof in our older child that they do end.
Perspective. Sigh.
Ah yes, I remember Zoe's 6 months growth spurt all too well. We were on holidays in a rented flat. Zoe was in the same room as us waking every 2 hours or so to nurse. We couldn't let her fuss as she would wake our neighbours downstairs. This went on for a couple of nights at lesat. Then the following night, she slept right thru. And I woke with a headche and a sore breast. As the day progressed, my breast became engorged ( as she was happy to cut back on her nursing) and I developed a fever: mastitis!
Needless to say, this was one of the worst 'holidays' I have been on. Even now I think that money was totally thrown away. But we should have known you can't get a holiday with a 6 month old on a feeding frenzy and a 2.5 year old.
I had the same sense of panic when I saw I was going to completely finish my frozen breastmilk supply. What's he going to eat!!???
But it worked out. I beefed up the fruits and veggies with cereals and that did the trick.
Hope the night suckling-weaning goes well. I could never master it. I'm a real wimp and just let them both suck til they were 2 (at night). Would not ever do that again if I could find a pain-free way for me to do it (free from their screams and howls...)
I'm proud to say I'm feeding Emmett 99% of pure mommy's milk and he just turned 5mo! (A few ounces of formula have been suplimented here and there.) You've inspired me making the entire year plus with Pumpkin. For some reason it's not as hard this time around. I was about half/half about this time with Aria and then for some reason I just stopped letting down - it was so painful! Anyway, since Emmett doesn't eat at night, I use all my night pumped milk during the day... If it weren't for that he definitely wouldn't get enough. The little guy is such an eater, getting about 30oz! I nursed Emmett longer too but being at work all day has totally killed that relationship. He just screams at me, it made me a little sad but I accept it because I work full-time and it's just the way it's going to be...so I'm a cow :-)
That's hard how Pookie is so demanding on you at night. And then you are supposed to function at work the next day. I just started getting a little more sleep and until now I've been a mess at work! Hang in there, hopefully he'll work it out soon!
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