Weaning

Last night was my first nursing free night in 2 years and 5 months and the first one ever for Aaryav.  Our breastfeeding relation had been going so beautifully and my sincere intention was to continue until he decided to call it a day.  The way it was going, certainly we would have continued for another year easily. But at times fate does intervene and you are forced to take decision from the head rather than the heart.

He is a picky eater, a slim guy, yes! At 2 years 5 months he weighs only 12 kilos.  All around me pinned his puny size to breastfeeding and have been pressurizing me to stop, I have not been  too concerned and felt that he would eventually catch up in size and weight.  But the situation of his teeth were worrying me. I could see the enamel getting depleted and a few cracked teeth were a cause for alarm.  Finally, I made the dreaded visit to the dentist half ashamed that I would be judged as a careless mother.  One look and the pedodontist suggested a root canal for one of his upper incisors and a filling for 3 cavities. A root canal is definitely not something I am keen on subjecting him to at this stage.

I followed this up with a visit to the paediatrician who was more milder.  She supported my opinion of not putting him thru a traumatizing experience like the root canal just as yet and suggested an immediate weaning especially of night feeds.  And so here I am, keeping my fingers crossed that I will have the willpower to see this through.  Much earlier than I expected, I feel sad that we did not celebrate the last feed as we should have.  Even now I wonder, should I just give him another feed telling him that this is the final one in our lovely journey together?  A lovely time cuddling him and watching his little jaws move briskly satiating his hunger and comforting him.  The slowing of the rhythm while he drifts off into his sleep the only way he has known ever. I will keep my mobile away and be engrossed in him and him alone. A ceremonial goodbye to our breastfeeding days. This afternoon nap was also without feeding.  Maybe I will just give in one more time and cherish it and imprint the experience in my mind.  Come to think of it, I will not be feeding another baby again this lifetime.

Magic No. 6

Yet another milestone that we have reached! Aarush has completed 6 months today. He has turned into a noisy attention seeking little brat.

The last month witnessed a huge change in Aarush's diet. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Aarush was introduced to solids by the month beginning and has by now had a taste of wheat,oats,ragi, vegetables such as pureed carrots, mashed potatoes and fruits such as cooked and pureed apple and mashed banana. So far the going is great and he has been enjoying the new meals. I still breastfeed him though it is mostly restricted to night and early morning feeds. Due to the work pressure, expressing has been cut down to just once a day and I am able to express just enough for one feed. So I have had no choice but to put him on follow on formula. Accompanied by the change in the input pattern, there is a major (and not so pleasant!) change in the output patterns as well. Gone is the sweet smelling, tumeric / mustard yellow, easily washable poo and is now replaced by more bulkier stuff that makes me want to put a peg on my nose!

Aarush has now become adept at rolling back and forth and loves to roll across the available space during his floor times. He has also been attempting to raise his body up on all fours. He has become very mobile now and somedays I wake up to see my little baby sleeping perpendicular to me on the bed. B has been pushed off and now sleeps on the day bed; the little man and I have the whole bed for ourselves now!

His social life is also developing at a great pace. He loves attention and demands it with ready smiles and friendly purrs. He has a clear preference for the fairer sex as well! From coos he has graduated to babbling; so much so that he can maintain a steady babbling conversation if someone responds back in his current vocabulary.

My little baby has outgrown most of his clothes (some of them barely used) and we are in the process of getting a whole new wardrobe for him. Now we are looking forward to his "choroonu" which will be held when we visit India in Feb.

Breastfeeding

I am quite contented by the progress in breastfeeding. Aarush is still on breastmilk exclusively and he has been steadily gaining weight. I am regularly expressing in the office and so far the going has been good. I have been able to carry home enough supply to last him for the time when I am away. He also has no problems getting to my breasts when I am back.

Aarush has 7 feeds a day now. Out of this, 4 times he is on expressed breastmilk. I express 3 times a day - before I leave for work as he is usually asleep and it also saves a lot of time for me, twice in the office at about 11.30 am and 3.30 pm. This depends a lot on my work schedule and I admit I am finding it quite tough with the increased workload due to the year end. In my absence Aarush has about 480 ml of milk and I am so far about to meet this demand while expressing. The other three times he feeds directly – once when I am back from office, before bedtime and one night feed.

Aarush has not been waking up on his own for the night feed for the past week or so. But, nevertheless, I get up once at night to give him a feed and he suckles well. I do not know whether it is a good practice. But I don’t want to miss even a single chance of feeding him directly. Also I get extremely full and it gets very inconvenient for me.

I hope I can carry on this way for the next 2 months until Aarush reaches 6 months!

Breastfeeding / Pumping At Work

This is yet another thing about motherhood that I thoroughly enjoy. Aarush and me have set up an excellent nursing relationship and so far it is going great. However, I have no idea how smooth the journey ahead would be as I would be commencing work in around a weeks time. I am preparing myself for a very bumpy road ahead.

I intend to nurse Aarush until he weans himself, whenever that is. And I would like to put on record that I would be willing to go to any lengths to ensure this. Aarush has not had a drop of formula ever since his 3rd day of life and I am extremely proud of that.

As a part of my planning to continue gifting this liquid gold to my dearest little one, I have chalked up the following:

1) My Medela Pump In Style breast pump has been pulled out and set going. The pump works quite well still. A few parts needs replacement and I am in the process of location them. Else will have to order online.

2) Since I was exclusively using the pump with Appu, I am quite comfortable with it. The pumping output as of now is quite reasonable at 4 ounces every 2 hours for a pumping duration of 10 minutes. I am figuring out methods of increasing this if required.

3) I am allowed 2 half hour breaks for nursing until baby reaches 6 months. Since I would end up wasting a lot of time in commuting and since this would be more tiring, I intend to utilise this time for expressing in the office. Probably four 15 minute breaks should be good enough. I could take the breaks at 10.30, 12.30, 2.30 and 4.30. I would also need to add an early morning and a mid night pumping session to match baby's requirements.

4) Once I reach home, I could nurse baby the whole evening and at night.

5) During times of growth spurts, I could take a break from work and be at home with baby?? (ahem..ahem....high hopes)

6) I read somewhere that oatmeal helps in increasing milk supply. So I start off with oatmeal religiously from tomorrow. I cant take fenugreek as I simply cant stand the smell and dont want to go around smeling of maple syrup.

As of now, these are the plans . Now I need to wait and see how well I can execute it. The hassles in this are many:

a) Need to find a proper place in the office where I can express in privacy. The place needs to have access to water as well as I need to rinse the pump flanges once done with pumping. That leaves me with only 2 options - the loo (hygiene issues here )and the pantry (lack of privacy due to constant traffic for tea breaks).

b) Wonder how my colleagues will react to it. As far as the ladies are concerned, dont have many like minded mothers around me so have no idea whether any of them would appreciate what I am doing. Needless to say, for the guys, I will be drawing a lot of comparisons to a cow. It would be nothing more than a subject to laught at. Hope I have the guts to wade through that.

c) Breaks - though I am eligible for it, will I be really able to squeeze in so many breaks with the demanding schedule that is in store for me. I need to etch in my mind that this is my priority.

d)Will I be able to get enough output even after going thro' all this trouble? There is no point worrying at this stage. Its something I got to handle as per the situation.

I just hope this goes well until Aarush decides he has had enough. Wish me all the milking best as I set out on this strenuous endevour!