Bigger and better adventures

First, the good news: we’ve broken the 8kg barrier! Talia weighed in at 8.165kg this morning. She is 14.5 months (11.5 months corrected). It has taken her 3 months to put on this most recent kilogram, which is exactly how long it took her to put on her first kilogram after leaving hospital. Fortunately, although not without it’s challenges, these past three months have not been anywhere near as stressful as those first three months.

It has been ages since I posted about what Talia is eating, and I’m sure to forget if I don’t write it down. Since the Great Spoon Strike began in April, I’ve had to come up with a wide range of finger food to cater to Little Miss Picky’s culinary whims. Food can now be categorised as follows:

Almost always acceptable as food and eaten regularly: avocado, beef sausage, dates, cooked veges (peas, mushroom, carrot, potato, sweet potato, celery), yogurt coated sultanas, fish (usually served crumbed)

Might be eaten, might not, depends on the day and there’s no way of telling in advance:
Part A (slightly more likely) omelette, pikelets, cheerios, sultanas, rice, meatball, matzah ball, muffin, pasta, red & white beans, corn, capsicum, grapes, chicken, biscuit
Part B (slightly less likely) cheese, banana, pumpkin, dried apricot, apple, rice cracker

Was a hit but we don’t dish it up every day: sushi, cake, prawn, cheesecake, hot chips, smoked salmon

Used to be popular but not at the moment: wholemeal toast (spread with avocado or peanut butter), fruit toast (spread with butter), cruskits (without or without avocado)

Oh seriously, there is no way I am going to eat that: mandarin, strawberry, anything on a spoon (eg weetbix, yogurt)

Things we haven’t fed her yet: chocolate, ice cream, jelly, tomato, salad greens

I took Talia to be weighed and measured this morning. It was pouring with rain and she peered out at the raindrops through the clear plastic pram cover. The last time it rained this much on her in Perth she was still in the carrycot, not the forward facing pram. I wanted to get her weighed closer to her birthday but we had a physio appointment the Monday before, and the Monday after was a public holiday.

1 year 2 weeks old (9.5 months corrected)

Weight: 7.235g - somewhere between the 3rd and 10th percentile for corrected age, below the chart for actual age

She only gained 100g in the past month, but that included teething and a cold when she was off solids for almost 2 weeks, so I’m not too fussed on this occasion.

Length: 66.0cm (up 0.5cm) - 5th percentile for corrected age, below the chart for actual age

Head circumference: 45.5cm (up 0.8cm) - somewhere between the 75th and 90th percentile for corrected age, and between the 50th and 75th percentile for actual age

In the afternoon I put her down on the cork floor at the back of our house. Normally she’s on the carpet, and the cork is much more slippery. She moved! She SLITHERED! Backwards! I think she may have been intending to crawl forwards but it didn’t quite work out that way and in the end she just got frustrated and had a grizzle, but I was so impressed.  That’s certainly going to be a good incentive to keep the floor swept.

Corrected age: 7 months, 0 weeks
Weight: 6.375kg
Diet: a slurp of pre-breakfast breastmilk; formula; fruit with yoghurt for breakfast; chicken with spuds, carrot, peas or corn, followed by fruit for lunch; and something similar again for dinner. Sometimes 4 meals a day!
New foods since last Monday: peach, chicken

Today was the first chance I’ve had to weigh Talia since the feeding penny dropped and she started scoffing solids like a chocoholic let loose in a Lindt factory. It was no surprise at all to discover she had stacked on the grams - up 405 g in 2 weeks! Wow!

Worrying about Talia’s weight is now officially “so last year”.

Corrected age: 6 months, 2 weeks
Weight: 5.970kg (so close to 6kg!!)
Diet: breastmilk, formula, a couple of small spoonfuls of fruit and vegetables. Since the last Café post, I have introduced apple, avocado, banana and corn. She still doesn’t eat regularly or very much, but more goes in than comes out again.

The child health nurse was open for the first time in 3 weeks so I went and had all her measurements done for the first time since early November. In the past two months, she has grown!

Weight: up 1.36kg to 5.97kg - and finally back on the shaded part of the graph, the 3rd percentile

Length: up 3cm to 63cm - just above the 10th percentile

Head circumference: up 1.5cm to 43cm - just above the 50th percentile

So it’s all good. I am a happy mummy today.

Corrected age: 5 months, 3 weeks
Weight: 5.555kg (yes, today has been brought to you by the number 5!)
Diet: breastmilk, formula, a smidge of vegetable mixed with farex and milk

We’re back with the solids, but not very convincingly. I’m starting to wonder if the tongue is a problem, so I asked the child health nurse this morning if it was abnormal for her to be sticking it out so much. She said it might just be a habit, or it might be the sign of an underlying problem - but she is not qualified to comment. So I’ll just have to wait and see.

I have a freezer full of orange icecubes - sweet potato, pumpkin and carrot. I’ve also discovered that orange coloured mush is really hard to wash out of bibs.

I wasn’t expecting to hear from the hospital until shortly before Talia’s 8 month check up in February, but today I received an “infant temperament questionnaire - 6 months” in the post. It is LONG - 95 questions! I intend to ignore it until later in the month. Don’t ask me what that says about parent temperament.

Corrected age: 5 months, 2 weeks
Weight: 5.410kg
Diet: breastmilk, formula

Giving up solids for a week certainly didn’t do Talia’s weight any harm! Up 245g, the most she has put on in a week, ever. Certainly the most since she left hospital.

I started solids again today, farex mixed with pear and I am fairly sure more stayed in than came out again.

One of my mothers’ group sent me the following email, and I knew just how she felt.

Whoever said there’s no use crying over spilt milk was a cold, heartless bastard, if he was standing next to a woman with a breast pump in one hand and a dropped bottle on the floor.
…take it from me.

I have decided not to express milk any more. I was doing it in the evening after Talia goes to bed, but I just can’t be bothered. I’m offering breast only first thing in the morning, and breast before bottle the rest of the day. I don’t know how long it will last, but hopefully through to the end of the year. I’ve already managed to go longer than I thought would be possible!

Corrected age: 5 months, 1 week
Weight: 5.165kg
Diet: breastmilk, formula, the merest taste of solids (potato and sweet potato)

Monday morning the Child Health Centre is open for anyone to weigh their baby, so I try to hike up there every week and see how Talia is progressing. She has been very slow to gain weight since leaving hospital, which has caused me a lot of stress and contributed to a bout of postnatal depression. I was so keen to breastfeed exclusively and it was a great disappointment to find that I am a “low-flow” mother and barely able to produce enough milk to keep my baby alive. Fortunately things have improved for both of us since I introduced formula, and now I am still breastfeeding “for medicinal purposes” but without the stress of knowing it is Talia’s only source of food.

I started Talia on “solids” (which are anything but solid!) a couple of weeks ago and have tried Farex, pear, sweet potato and potato. At first she just screwed up her face and wouldn’t have a bar of either farex and pear (”Eat it yourself, Mum!”) but then she seemed to grasp the idea and opened wide as I spooned in a mix of milk and mashed potato. Unfortunately, as fast as it went in, she pushed it with her tongue - straight back out again. I don’t know that she actually swallowed any of it. So I am going to wait for another week or so and see if the tongue reflex goes away.