My kid and becoming human: Notes from Month 6
August 12, 2015
Baby Kisses: It took me a while to understand why LB would glom onto my cheek like a little suckerfish, and lick my face. Ze is trying to kiss us back! And it’s basically the weirdest, cutest, funniest thing. Ze obviously doesn’t know how we’re kissing hir cheeks, but ze is doing hir best estimate.
***
LB loves to chew on hands, mostly my hands though sometimes hirs are good too, and lick knees. Ze has odd taste.
***
I can’t decide if this belongs here or in a money post but I’m figuring it’s about LB, so … LB is trying out a lot of new foods, just little tastes, but won’t be ready to transition off milk for a while longer. Until then, whether due to fatigue (baby or syndrome related), or not hydrating enough, or some other thing, my milk production has been dropping significantly so we rely on formula a lot. It’s convenient but I hate the cost and I hate the inconvenience and the waste when ze suddenly decides 1 oz into a 5 oz bottle that ze is cranky and doesn’t want that bottle after all. I hate that we have to chuck formula at $1/oz! So I want to keep providing hir almost all breastmilk but it’s just not happening.
***
Speaking of foods, ze has been an adventurous eater indeed. It seems that the last two months of watching us eat and not share has motivated hir to take every proffered food even if ze thinks it’s disgusting at first. I know this acceptance of food may change when ze gets older but it’s fun right now.
***
In what seemed like a flash, LB figured out how to try to push hirself into a sit position from a flat on the belly position, and then learned how to actually sit up. It just … happened. A friend with an older baby marveled at how strong ze was – I didn’t think it was abnormal for a baby to be able to get up on all fours and rock and scoot backwards at this age but what do I know.
***
I keep comparing pictures of LB from when ze was a week old to now and the change is astounding. So much so that it doesn’t look like the same human at all. I birthed a cute tiny alien and it’s turned into a cute tiny human!
***
“Babies need to get frustrated. That’s how they learn.” Great advice from @vanitygames the first time LB was the Angriest of all Inchworms and I felt bad for hir. Now when ze hollers from frustration, ze gets encouragement and a little bit of support after ze has given it a really good try. Independent (angry) baby!
***
I’m understanding why cats imitate baby voices now but it’s really creepy when I can’t tell if that’s a cat yowling on our street or LB waking up from a nap prematurely.
***
Last in the series of vaccines! Ze was a total champ. Angrily screamed for about ten seconds and then sat up like nothing had happened. That’s about the standard for any “but you’re fine” fall when ze topples over and conks hir head not terribly hard. Given how hard ze has head butted me in the face without even blinking, I’ve taken to pointing out that ze is merely startled for most of those very comparatively gentle head conks. After a second, ze seems to agree.
***
I no longer try to soothe most of LB’s crying. Not because I’m a heartless monster, but because most of hir crying is frustration over not knowing how to do something or wanting to do something or just wanting attention. Instead of trying to soothe, I redirect to a new toy and 90% of the time, ze is amenable. Also, I don’t hand hir toys anymore. Ze wants what ze can’t have, so I play with it in front of hir and if ze gets interested, ze’ll leap-crawl over.
Baby Savings: It’s important to remember this is artificially inflated due to not having reliable childcare and not withdrawing cash to pay for the trial nanny days.
Up to$29,346.84.
Month 5: Toes
Month 4: Velociraptor Claws
Month 3: Growth Spurts
Month 2: Hates sleep
Month 1: Banshee
I’m pretty sure your posts are my favorite on the interwebs right now. Because babies. Adorable babies.
I wish I could share video and pictures because they’re really fun, but I do my best with words.
I also had a significant drop in milk supply around six months. For us it conincided with sleeping through the night reliably — something about a less frequent round the clock feeding cued my body to slow down in terms of making milk. (Not just that nice sleeps-for-five hours thing, but really sleeping a longish time). There were a series of pumping strategies that people shared with me that helped but it we gradually weened to formula (save 1-2 feedings/day) by around 11 months due to supply issues. It sort of builds… the more formula you use, the more formula you use.
(We also saved formula for a short period of time — 2 hrs?)
Oh you know what, that’s a great point. Not that we’re sleeping through the night now but we are getting the occasional easy put back down where I’m not required to be up for a feeding. I was trying pumping to help but my pump is crapped out :/
I was never motivated to pump in the middle of the night :/ But that was one of the (many) tips I got… Get up at 3am like you have been for the last 6 months and pump. Uhm no.
I did try pumping one side while feeding on the other during the day though. And that was effective, especially first thing in the AM and right at the end of the work day when supply was already sort of high — it increased it.
Does your insurance cover a pump? Mine did (well, $50 copay, but still way better… ) also as long you supply your own exterior supplies (tubes, flanges, bottles) a used pump is safe for Medela brand. Don’t know about other brands.
Oh heavens, no, there will be no getting up at 3 am just for pumping! 🙂 I’m currently expressing instead of pumping, I will try to do that more often.
My insurance covered the pump that I have (Ameda) but I don’t know if they cover a replacement. I will have to ask!
YMMV but my understanding is that expressing doesn’t provide enough stimulation to improve supply (whereas pumping with a commercial grade pump does — the ones with the motors, not the hand based ones — because of the way it sucks and the volume of milk it can remove).
I think the reason why pumping one side and feeding the other works also involves sort of tricking your body into thinking its the baby taking milk in both cases/you might let the baby finish side 2 after the pump is done getting some of the benefits of the baby’s way of sucking vs. the machine’s.
When pumping etc. interferes with your ability to just spend time with your little one, then it’s time to stop in my opinion…
If it’s your pump supply that is getting lower– try replacing the white flappy things on the pump flanges, check the drum for leaks, and clean out the stuff under the faceplate for dog-hair (or cat-hair).
If you let your baby use your breasts as a pacifier, supply will go up. There’s also a lot of other things you can do like oatmeal, vit.D, iron, fenugreek etc., though I don’t know how the cost of supplementing mom compares to formula. You probably know all that (if not, check kellymom for more supply tips).
(Also your baby is adorbs!)
oh, I see your pump has crapped out… that sucks. Pumping is a good way to increase supply. I’d send you my pump, but we gave it away right before moving. Health insurance is supposed to provide a free pump now under the ACA, I thought… I wonder if it covers a replacement pump?
LB seems to be semi self weaning, preferring a bottle more often for real feeding. Ze just isn’t terribly interested in nursing as many times during the day either. It’s very true – you really cannot make a baby nurse if they do not want to!
I’ll have to check into whether a replacement is covered, thanks for the suggestion.
You may be tired of my thoughts on this….
Bottle feeding is easier (less work) for the baby… And the more ze bottle feeds, the lower supply gets, the more ze has to work at it, the less likely ze is to want to bottle feed… A weekend (or longer) where you are there the whole time and all you did is offer the breast may actually help quite a bit.
What Hypatia Cade said. I’ve also seen it recommended that when in that situation that a good place to spend a good portion of said weekend is naked in the bath with the baby. Apparently that somehow makes the breast more irresistible.
🙂 Obviously a brilliant child!
Alas that we cannot predict future success based solely on these tidbits 🙂
Dammit, now I want to go where you are and pinch hir lil cheeks! I’ll settle for a girly noise as I read this stuff.
Ze really is better in person 🙂
@Hypatia Cade: “You may be tired of my thoughts on this…. ”
Not at all! 🙂 It’s helpful to hear your thoughts. I may give it a try soon.
@nicoleandmaggie: I had never heard that before but I’ll have to see! Kid is on the go most of the time so trapping hir with me might work 😀
Discovered a new tooth today. Explains why he was crying, grumpy, red-cheeked and whiny all last week…
Oh poor BB! How many teeth are you at now?
[…] My kid and becoming human: Notes from Month 6 […]
[…] 6: Becoming human Month 5: Toes Month 4: Velociraptor Claws Month 3: Growth Spurts Month 2: Hates sleep Month 1: […]
[…] 7: Ambulation Month 6: Becoming human Month 5: Toes Month 4: Velociraptor Claws Month 3: Growth Spurts Month 2: Hates sleep Month 1: […]
[…] My kid and becoming human: Notes from Month 6 […]