The End Of Breastfeeding...

at least I hope so...Since my initial plan to wean was at 6 months, I dare not say for sure that this is the end. Meera has other plans in mind or so it seems.

I was starting to think that maybe I would extend breastfeeding her till 1 year old... especially since that is the recommended age. But personally I feel 6 months was what I was prepared for and I've gone longer than that. And lately I've noticed that Meera has started to develop the habit of nursing to sleep which I do not want to encourage. It all started once she got more aware of her surroundings and would only nurse well when she was sleepy. This created a vicious cycle: when she was wide awake she wouldn't nurse well so I had to nurse when she was sleepy. Pretty soon it got to a point where nursing before sleep became a routine. Since I wasn't sure how much she was drinking I could never be sure if she was hungry or it was just a habit. Added to that she started to wake in the middle of the night to feed as well! This was so unlike her who has pretty much slept thru the night since she was around 3 months.

As far as I can see it's time to start her on formula. That way I'll know exactly how much she's taking and I can feed her enough so she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night.

But so far Meera does not seem on board with this plan. I had tried to offer her formula once in a while but everytime I did she would just push the bottle away. I even tried mixing it with her food but somehow it had such a distinctive smell that she wasn't fooled. I even tried to mix it with breast milk but she refused. Some people suggested trying different brands, so we did (Enfapro, Anmum and Babynat). But honestly, I myself found that they all tasted (and smelled) quite different from breast milk. It was no wonder that Meera was refusing.

And so we arrive at today....Trying to wean cold turkey (in the belief that if she's hungry enough she sill take formula). So far it has been extremely nerve wrecking (to say the least.)

Her last feed (nursing) was yesterday at 5 p.m. After that I gave her some solids (her regular amount for dinner) and that night we offered formula. As expected she fussed and cried. After 30 minutes of persistence she finally took 3 oz! and proceeded to fall asleep (maybe cos she was exhausted from the whole ordeal...I know I was!) She woke at 1.30 a.m., we offered formula, she refused and went back to sleep. Next day she woke up at 8...we offered, she refused. For the rest of the day we continued to offer and she finally took 4 oz. at 3 p.m.! At 5 p.m. I fed her dinner and she went to bed at 6.30 p.m. It's 9 p.m. and she's still asleep....not sure if she'll wake up or calling our bluff (I'm about to fold as it is).

I should add that being the worry wort that I am, we scheduled our pediatrician's visit today so I could make sure that what we were doing was okay. The doctor was not exactly on board with it but she did say that we could keep trying for a day or two but longer than that would not be recommended. She suggested we offer formula before each nursing and with time Meera would come to accept formula. HUH??? Call me a pessimist but how can that possibly work...all you're doing is telling the baby that if she holds out she'll get what she wants. How is that suppose to convince her to take the formula?

For now....I am hoping that my next post will have something good to report. Wish me luck!!!

8 Months Old

Weight: 7.75kg, Height 70.5 cm, Head circumference: 41.8cm. In relative terms she's slightly taller and thinner than the average baby. All this was done during a well visit to the peds. However I should mention that the well visit was actually schedule because we had decided to start Meera on formula and since the past few attempts did not go well ( she basically pushed away the bottle and refused to feed) we decided to go cold turkey. Which meant offering formula and waiting it out until she was finally hungry enough to take it (this whole 'endeavor' will be another post in itself. Fingers crossed it end on a positive note).

Back to the matter at hand: Meera is now 8 months old! As with each month I marvel at how quickly time has passed. Seems like only yesterday I was in the hospital meeting her for the first time.

Now she can crawl, pull up on furniture and take a few hesitant steps from one 'prop' to another assuming of course she is interested enough to move.

I've also started to give her 3 solid meals a day and so far she's taking to it quite well. Although there have been a few occasions where food landed where it wasn't suppose to (due to her over enthusiastic attempts at grabbing for the spoon.)

She has also started to understand object permanence. That is if she looses sight of me she will sometimes cry (provided there's nothing else more interesting to her).
But she still sleeps in her own room so I'm not sure if she truly gets it yet or not. Hopefully she's just got an independant streak in her and is okay sleeping alone. My theory is since she has never slept with us she can't know the difference....only time will tell I guess.

STTN...Not!!!

If you don't know...STTN means sleeping thru the night. Which is basically every new parents wish for their child. And depending on which source you follow it could mean as little as 6 hours a stretch! Not exactly the 8-12 hours you would imagine.

Meera has been pretty decent in allowing her parents to sleep well. I say this because from about 3 months old she has basically slept thru the night...and quite often it would be the 8-12 hours kind!

Unfortunately for the past 2 nights that has seemed to be a thing of the past. I cross my fingers and hope its a phase. But I am also searching all over for a possible reason as to why my sweet angel is waking up every 3-4 hours! Is she hungry? (so far I nurse her and after 5-10 minutes she drifts off to sleep), is she lonely?(in which case the nursing is probably just for comfort)...

Needless to say this is just a rant on my part since no solution has been found. I continue to Google and search for answers. Hopefully I have some good news soon! Meanwhile I shall try to increase her solid food in the hopes that she is waking up hungry and more food during the day will tide her over.

First Halloween

We had quite a hard time getting a costume that would fit Meera. Most of the ones on sale were for much older kids. Not surprising since Halloween is not exactly a holiday Malaysians observe. Finally managed to get one at Toys R Us which was a little large for her but....




And she deigned to wear it for all of 5 minutes before deciding it wasn't to her liking! Hopefully next year she'll like being a pumpkin... (or we have to get another costume)