Sleep Regression: Liam isn't sleeping! It's really been a battle. He will maybe nap at daycare for 20-30minutes for the entire day. This sets him up to be a cranky pants for the rest of the day. By the time he gets home at 4, he crashes. I've been trying to keep him up because if he sleeps at 4, he will sleep till 6, eat and want to stay asleep. Hes also not wanting to be in his crib. As soon as I walk into his room, he starts fussing. As I put him in his crib, he gets hysterical. I have a music box that I put on and so far it has worked on distracting him for the past two days. The music box trick does not work at night and he was in bed with me again last night between 10pm-2am. It's exhausting.
Crawling: He is trying! Usually I just sit him down on his butt and he wont move too much. The last couple of days he has been flipping over onto his tummy and trying to drag himself places. His little feet are kicking and most of the time he gets himself all worked up (hot mess). While I change him, hes flipping himself over, which is rather frustrating when I am fighting to get his diaper on. His changing pad got pee-soaked and stinky, so we are in search of a new one.
Milestones: His top teeth are getting longer, he is moving more and he is also playing peek-a-boo. Below is a video clip of him getting very excited over it. He still has separation anxiety from me and while in someone elses arms, he is grabbing and reaching out for me. We play a cause/affect game where I will stick out my tongue. He will try to grab it and as soon as he touches it, my tongue goes back into my mouth. He loves this game. His speech is getting better. His only word still is Mama but he has learned to say "Ba". I think he likes the feeling of his bottom lip hitting his top teeth.
Food: Solid food is going slowly. He is eating two meals a day (4oz at lunch, 4oz at dinner). I was planing on introducing breakfast today but we had a rough morning. I will try again this weekend. I thought it was squash that was making him constipated but now I am not too sure. His poops are still hard and hes only eating pears, prunes and sweet potatoes. He used to love peas but this week he doesn't and spits them out. We tried peaches but that gave him a diaper rash. I think I am going to try blueberries next. I am also going to introduce oatmeal back into his diet for breakfast and mix it with a tbsp of prunes.
Dairy-Free: Sunday I decided to eat a yogurt and see how he was over the week. I also had hot coco Monday night. So far he has been ok. I plan to eat another yogurt today and monitor him.
Breastfeeding/Pumping: Breastfeeding has been going ok and he is still eating multiple times during the night. When I got sick, my supply dropped drastically and so I was thankful that he was still able to get some milk in him. At one point he was so frustrated that I pumped and pumped and gave him a bottle just to calm him. But after eating lactation cookies and drinking tons of gatorade, my supply is back to where it should be.
Pumping at work has become such a chore. When I was sick, I was power pumping (pumping for 10 minutes, stopping for 10mins, pumping for 10 minutes etc.) just to get some milk. I was pumping for 40+ minutes and only getting 2oz total from both breasts. Normally I can get 6oz on my first morning pump and 4oz on my next couple of pumps. I am back to where I was but my pump isn't as efficient as it used to be (or my breasts are rebelling from the pump). I will be a lot happier when I dont have to pump. I am done teaching at the end of April but then I am teaching a summer class in Mid May. Two more months!
I had a conversation with a friend on my plans of weaning. In two weeks Liam is 9 months, and then in three months he will be 1 year. My plan is to breastfeed him up until August (13 months) or until my supply runs out (which ever comes first). Once August hits, I want to switch him to milk for daytime (if he can drink milk) and breastfeed him at night. My ultimate goal is to get him to sleep through the night, only nurse right before bed and possibly when he wakes up in the morning and to not have to pump when I return to work in September. As far as completely cutting him off of breast milk, I am not really sure.
