Starting Solid Food!

We have officially started solid foods!  Last week Elijah's teacher noted that he woke up from every one of his naps screaming from hunger almost an hour before he was due to eat again.  So she thought maybe we should think about introducing some cereal to help him feel full longer.  That night we went out and bought some cereal.  It's been fun to see Elijah's reaction.  These pictures are from the first time.  He didn't eat much that night.  I think he was too hungry and it was frustrating to try to eat off a spoon.  The second night went similarly.  But Miss Amber told me that he ate all of it when she gave him some at school.  So the next night I followed her lead and gave him a bottle and then tried the cereal about an hour later.  It went great!  Daniel fed him and he ate all of it happily.  He makes some really funny faces, but overall it seems that he likes it.  He spits a lot of it out and we have to scoop it back into his mouth.  He's getting better each time.

Elijah is also really close to sitting up on his own.  He can sit up for a few seconds, but he always loses his balance and topples over.  Bathtime is a favorite activity these days.  Elijah likes to splash us by kicking his feet.  He also loves to chase the little ducky around the bathtub.  When he finally catches it, he brings it straight to his mouth (like everything else!).  

We're still trying to get Elijah to sleep unswaddled.  At day care he naps without being swaddled, but they're short naps and he ends up very tired at the end of the day.  On Friday he fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept in his car seat in the living room for 2 hours!  He woke up at his usual bedtime so he went to bed about 90 minutes late that night.  We have tried putting him to bed unswaddled a few times, but he inevitably wakes up an hour later.  We aren't willing to be up all night at this point just for the sake of transitioning out of the swaddle.  He still isn't rolling over consistently so we have some time before we have to cut it completely.  He sleeps so well normally that I don't want to screw it up.  It's been a long time since we've had a bad night.  Last night was the worst in the last 2 or 3 weeks and he was up twice.  Most nights he's up once, eats, and goes back to sleep.  Pretty regularly he sleeps through the night as well.  On Saturday he slept in until 7:30.  I was able to sleep in until 7 (it's amazing that 7am feels like sleeping in to me) and still have time to pump before Elijah woke up.  It's just about my favorite thing in the world to be there when he wakes up in the morning, so I love to get up on the weekends and let Daniel sleep in later.

The last few weeks have been a breeze.  It feels like we're finally able to put life on auto-pilot and just enjoy each day.  I'm gaining confidence every day.  On Friday I even told Daniel he could help out a friend until 7pm and I would take care of getting Elijah fed, bathed, and to bed by myself!  Of course, he slept the whole time so it didn't quite turn out that way.  But the fact that I was willing to do it is evidence that my confidence has grown by leaps and bounds since December.

I just realized that I never updated the breastfeeding situation.  In December we went through almost our entire freezer stash.  My milk supply was about 10 oz below what Elijah was eating every single day.  I had pretty much given up and accepted that we were going to have to supplement with formula.  I casually mentioned that to Elijah's doctor in an email, and he suggested I try fenugreek.  On December 14 I started taking it.  I read online somewhere that for it to work, you have to pump often- like every 2-3 hours.  So I upped my pumping to every 3 hours religiously.  I also added a pumping in the middle of the night.  And within about 2 weeks I saw a huge difference.  I went from pumping 8-9 oz at work to 10-11 oz.  Now I'm up to 11-12 oz each day at work. I also started to feel more "full" in between pumping and in the middle of the night.  It completely sucks to wake up every night to pump, but I am so happy that I still have enough milk for Elijah that it's totally worth it.  6 weeks later and my supply is still increasing steadily.  We haven't had to thaw any more frozen milk in weeks, and last week I noticed that I actually might have enough to start freezing some more.  Day care has about 5 bags of frozen milk, and we have one at home.  That's all that's left of my huge freezer stash.  It's a lot of pressure to make sure I'm producing enough each day.  I'm making about 30 oz a day and Elijah eats 25-30 oz.  With the rice cereal added in he might eat a bit less than that now.  I am so proud of myself for working so hard to get my supply back up.  And even though I know formula is perfectly good food, I'm also very happy that Elijah is still exclusively breastfed.  Breastfeeding is hard but so rewarding!

On a related note, I am officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I probably have been for a while, but I didn't bother to weigh myself until last week.  I've noticed lately that my jeans continue to get looser.  These jeans are the same size I wore before I got pregnant.  And now they are so loose, I have to keep pulling them up to keep them from falling down.  Breastfeeding= best. diet. ever.  Speaking of breastfeeding, I was telling Daniel many things that I want to do differently with the next child, and he suggested I write them down.  This seems like a good place, so here is a list of things I want to do differently with the next child:

1) I want to take a longer maternity leave- at least 12 weeks.  I need time to get breastfeeding better established.  I thought it was well established by 6 weeks last time, but now I know better.  Also, it's the only time I get to spend with my baby and not have any other responsibilities.  I want to savor it and enjoy it.

2) I want to delay introducing bottles as long as possible, if at all.  I would like to avoid bottles altogether.  This time, I was pretty anxious to introduce bottles.  I was so tired of being the one to feed him around the clock; I was ready for a break.  But Elijah has come to prefer bottles now, and that makes me sad.  I know that if I had planned for it all along, I could absolutely go to Elijah's day care and feed him myself 3 times a day.  Of course it won't always be feasible, but one or two bottles a week is much better than 3 a day.

3) I want less family visitors in the early days.  While I'm breastfeeding practically non-stop and getting to know my new baby, I do not need house guests or grandparents who want to hold the baby while he's happy and fed and then hand him over for feeding and crying.  I need time to bond with the baby in my own house without worrying about anyone else.  Besides, he's not even that interesting in the first few months.  I'm not sure how I'll exactly manage this when the time comes, but I can hope.

4) I absolutely want to breastfeed from the breast as long as possible.  This time around I thought that the most important thing was that Elijah was getting the nutrition and health benefits of milk, no matter how it was delivered.  Of course that's still true.  But the incredible bonding that I experienced with Elijah while nursing him is something I will always cherish.  I didn't really pay attention to that bonding aspect when I was reading up on breastfeeding while I was pregnant.  Of course I couldn't have any idea how amazing that experience would be.  Now I know.  And I want to extend that as long as possible with the next baby.  

That's all I can think of for now.  I'm sure I'll add more as Elijah gets older and I get more experience as a mother.  And I'll leave you with this adorable picture of Elijah avoiding naptime by snuggling with Daddy.