On Breastfeeding

Remember my earlier post on how Amir was weaned? Well, ho hum do we have a major update on that. 

The first week Umar was home, he started acting up. The usual terrible twos tantrum. Added with the arrival of a new sibling. Or so we thought. But then it got worse. 

He wouldn't even want to come into the room at night to sleep if Umar was there. And was basically crying something about Mommy but we couldn't understand what. At first. 

Coaxing manage to bring him to the room but he would still be crying and wanting to be comforted. Out of the blue, I asked if he wanted nen (we avoided this subject with him before) and immediately he smiled in the midst of his tears. 

Allahurabbi. He was trying so hard to be brave and to be a big boy (as per Mommy's nightly talks with him before on why he needs to stop nen). How he didn't say anything about it because he knows he is not supposed to. And how happy he was when he knew that he actually could. 

While feeding him that night, I cried.

So, I am tandem feeding both boys now. Biiznillah. 

Weaning

After he turned 2 and seeing that his baby brother will be out soon, the thought of weaning him has been going through my mind. In all honesty, I really do not know how to go about doing it. In one hand, it was our bonding moment.. a ritual if you may. The only time of the day where I felt really important and connected to him. On the other, he is 2 and I have completed my obligation to give him what was best for him (plus, I really did not want to encourage early contraction and stuff like that)

In a way, the transition has been made.. With the feeding being at night only ever since being pregnant. Only sometimes would he ask during the day and since he always asks so nicely, I can never say no. :P (of course after that, I would be so lembek for that whole day)

And so, each night after he turned 2, I told him that he's a big boy now and don't need his nen anymore and he can just go to sleep with me instead. Everytime, he would stop sucking and look at me as if to say "really?" and stare at me a bit before continuing as though he does not think my idea is a good one. Haha!

But for a week now, he has been on a routine where he says good night to everyone and once ready will tuck himself in the duvet and "try" to sleep by himself, without the nen. And amazingly enough, he's done it. Albeit takes longer. And needs a whole lot of twist and turn. And the occasional tepuk bum in a rhythm. But he's done it. No crying, no tantrums whatsoever. Subhanallah.. MasyaAllah I am so impressed!

And now I feel bereft. 

WW :: Makan!

I am not rajin enough to cook for Amir daily, hence the stocking up method.

Some of the things that are in there includes;
- chicken porridge with carrots and potatoes
- broccoli and peas (to be eaten with cheese)
- homemade pasta sauce
- apple and plum sauce (to be eaten with oats)
- baby ambrosia ready made stuff (I normally get the fish variety)
- and of course, EBM stock (dwindling! though)

One Month+ Weaning

Taken from wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com

Much as it irks the paed, I am sticking to taking it slow and steady in introducing food for Amir. For the first month or so, he was totally on fruits & veg. And only when he started eating three times a day did we introduce oats. (we tried brown rice, but was fiercely rejected by the little guy)

The introduction phase was with fruits. And we started with apples and pears. And then added bananas to the mix. Avocados is still a volatile option, only taken with bananas. The first veg was sweet potato which Amir loves. To date, give him a sweet potato meal and it will never be enough! He's also tried carrots and potatoes. 

Once a day meal lasted for a week. Haha. He was thaaaat receptive towards eating. And then it was twice a day, one for breakfast and one for dinner.

When he turned 7 months, I tried brown rice. And was rejected. Haha. So tried oats, and he loved it. But cannot la eat oats je kan, kata Melayu kena la makan nasi gak. So tried again rice this week, and was rejected again. Hahahaha. Ah well, like my BFF pointed out - he's gonna have his whole life ahead of him of rice eating. Btw, he loves his oats with any fruit puree.

So as per the listing, these are the things he has eaten to date;

Apples

Avocados

Bananas

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Prunes

Pumpkin

Carrots

Cauliflower

Potato

Sweet Potato

Oatmeal

Rice

Not bad eh?

Amir The Eater

Boys will be boys la kot? He's got such a good appetite subhanallah. Tak sampai 10 minutes boleh habes his food. So far I've introduced apple, pear and sweet potato to his diet. Tried avocado also but he's not that receptive to it. Might have to give it another go next week. Or probably introduce bananacado as a combo.

He knows when it is meal time, and delays will cause him to become loud. And start smacking his lips and pound on the table. Haha. Sua je sudu, terus bukak mulut. So when he is full, you'll know too coz he won't open his mouth at all!

We started of feeding him once a day only. But on the second day he was doing the "i want my food now" tactics, so he's been having breakfast and late lunch puree. And I think by the end of next week, he'll graduate to 3 meals a day.

Amir's stock for the week

Yes, I puree his food in advance. And no, even though I am a SAHM I do not have the time to be tai-tai. What more now with prep for my youngest brother's wedding in full speed. But the topic about being SAHM is for another blog post.

First Food!!

Semalam marked the first day Amir had his food. Wanted to give him avocado but unfortunately the avocado I bought was still tak masak so had to prep him some apple puree.

2 medium sized apples

Peeled, cored and quartered ready to steam

Blended together with the steamed juice

Little happy boy ready to eat

Nyam Nyam

Halfway there..

Extras are frozen for the next meal

Alhamdulillah he liked it. In fact, when we put him in the high chair today he started getting noisy as if saying "where's my food?? I don't want to sit her if I am not eating!" Haha!

So very happy with the Little Bean steamer-blender combo that one of my aunties gave us. Definitely going to use it again n again. Amir is definitely the lucky boy with an enthusiastic SAHM :D

About Weaning

This past couple of days Amir has been a wee bit hungrier than usual. It could be because I was at home since Thursday.

You see, he had a bout of diarrhea and was really lembek. So I decided to take 2 days off to feed on demand to get him well again. And then the Papa got sick and I got sick so I got another 2 days MC. So a lot of on demand feeding going on. And he was literally hungry ALL THE TIME.

Anyways, I have been preparing myself for it and reading up a lot on what foods to give him. [the links are at the end of the post] And I have to say I am pretty excited about it.

Here's to hoping I will be feeding him lots of good food.

Annabel Karmel

Homemade Baby Food Recipe

Wholesome Baby Food

Bridget Swinney Recipes

Nurture Baby

Baby Ambrosia

It's All in the Mind

Yeah right!

Look at that! The EBM stock is dwindling. Compared to this pic in this post.

I can look at it from 2 different angles; one - Alhamdulillah Amir is drinking a lot and getting a lot of nutrients and growing up oh so healthy or two - I am not producing enough for him thus elevating me to panic mode.

Right now, I am looking at it from angle 2. *sigh*

Maka, a general reminder to self on things to do to boost up production:

• eat right, eat often

• drink lots and lots of water

• keep away from negative feelings, negative people (also negative postings on FB - I find those to be the most disturbing)

• do not skip the pumping sessions

• do not worry that emptying the milk during pumping will then cause lack of milk when time comes to feeding

• be yakin that you will be able to pump enough for your baby

• above all else, before pumping nawaitu in your heart you are doing this for your baby lillahi taala.

It helps if you can get milk boosters or enhancers. Some of the things that work for me includes; (bear in mind, different things works for different people - it is mostly trial and error)

• my 'happy food' which are chocolates and froyo

• lobak putih

• milkmaid tea

Let's go grab some happy food! :)

A Good Night

A good night's sleep is defined as..

• able to sleep at a stretch of 5 hours in the early part of the night

• waking up every 2 hour interval in the later part of the night

Last night was definitely NOT a good night! Bleeaarrghh..

kesian Amir kena gigit nyamuk.. :(

So it begins..

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful..

Stock yang ada .. enough for a month

... permudahkanlah Ya Allah ...

Handy Reminder

Bila dah tua ni, you need all kinds of help to remember things.

Milk Band

I bought this and it has been helpful in dealing with which side to feed Amir ;)

Loving it!

Definitely loving it! Have started my EBM stock and with this around, it definitely helps. So far, have not resorted to additional intake of "enhancers". Probably will do so after the 1st month when I need to increase the stock.

J is extremely curious by the whole milking / feeding process. She keeps asking questions like where does the milk come from, how much is there etc etc.

Annnnddd best LOL part was, she actually compared hers with mine and sighed "I wish I have big dots like yours Mommy"

Hahahahahahaha..

I tell you, she keeps saying the darnest things. :)

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