I can hardly believe you turn 6 months old today. Before you were born, I used to wonder if I can love you as much as your sister and I guess people are right about one thing: Love doesn't get divided, it just doubles. Now, I can tell you for sure that yes, I do love you as much as your sister.
It wasn't all smooth sailing when you came along. Mama struggled with breastfeeding like I did with your sister. I was about as clueless as a first time mom where breastfeeding is concerned. I guessed you weren't getting enough from latching, but my ego didn't give in to fm until you were 6 weeks old. While other babies are packing on pounds from the richness of their mom's milk, you put on a merger 400g from your birth weight at 6 weeks old. Newborn babies can easily weigh more than you. We succumbed to fm and that took the pressure off me and put the weight into you. I started my exclusive pumping journey. I lived my life in 3 hour intervals, and everything revolved around my pumping schedule. I did everything and ate everything that could potentially increase my supply. Still, it takes 4 pumps to make up a feed for you. I was getting just 30-40ml every 3 hours. I thought I will dry up at 2 months, like I did with your sister. Your sister called me a naughty girl because I was pumping and didn't play with her. I lost count of the number of times I feel like throwing my pump at the wall. I don't know how I made it this far, but I did. 6m mark, 3 pumps a day, 360-400ml per day. 40% of your daily milk intake is definitely better than nothing. With mixed feeding, you are now thriving at 8.5kg.
You are also a feisty one. You need to drink milk to sleep and look for milk immediately when you wake up. Friends who have babies around your age tells me they are sleeping through the night. On (rare) good days, you last 5 hours. On bad days, you wake up every 2 hours. I wouldn't have survived without your grandma helping with night duties at her house. That, however, means you are away from me for at least 2 days every week.
At 6m, you like to go out and see the world. Carrying you upright used to work, but now you push us to ensure you are facing forward. You are an expert at grabbing things, especially people's hair. Grandma almost carried you out of Mothercare without realising you had grabbed a pair of socks off the rack. Whatever you grabbed usually go through a painful ordeal. You just have a tendency to whack the item in your hand on the table. It was painful to watch the brochures crumbling in your possession.
Your laughter is infectious. You shriek with delight at peekaboo and tickling games. You smile at strangers and brighten up their day. Everyone tells me my baby is cute. Yes, we make cute babies and we love both of you.
Happy 6m my little one!
Love,
Mama
No comments:
Post a Comment