Almost 20 Months Old + Almost Weaned...or not really

I left for Vancouver for my sister's civil wedding, and was gone for a week. I had hoped to come home to a fully weaned toddler. But life has other plans. And so I'm still breastfeeding my 20-month old. Surprisingly I'm only slightly disappointed and instead fell right back into the comforting groove of feeding my baby. It's just a nice bonding time, especially for this working mom.

In other news, she's slowly increasing her appetite. I swear, when she started picking up green peas and putting them in her mouth, swallowing without spitting, I yelled hallelujah! She's also eating more, like fish, and even a whole chicken nugget even.

Constipation Power Duo: Duphalac Lactulose + Suppository!

(Crossing my fingers but) Maddy has been pooping every other day or so for the past 2 weeks. What we did was we gave her Lactulose (1 tsp) 3x a day, then administered suppository every 3-4 days for 2 weeks.

The Lactulose does not taste half bad, and suppositories weren't as painful as I imagined they would be on Maddy, since they're very waxy.

This is because we noticed that the Lactulose seems to be working fine, making Maddy's stool soft, BUT since she was holding back on pooping, her stool would eventually harden and aggravate constipation. Her fear of pooping and the pain associated therewith counter-acted whatever benefits the Lactulose brought.

The suppositories helped immensely to get her pooping without the fear of pain. Since we administered it every 3-4 days, her stools would remain soft from the Lactulose and she would be able to pass them without pain or blood. 

Once she got used to the feeling of passing stools regularly, and painlessly, she began to poop every other day without need of suppositories. We've cut back on administering Lactulose (1 tsp) once a day, then now every other day!

We just got a go signal from the pedia that we can keep giving Maddy Lactulose 1 tsp 1x a day every other day for 2 months, until her GI tract is completely used to passing stools easily.

Hurray for small achievements!

Pump Free!

When Maddy hit around 16 months old, I stopped pumping at work. Before that I'd pump just once midday. One, because I was afraid if I didn't, my milk supply for evening would be affected. Two, because sometimes my boobs would still be engorged with milk. But when I stopped pumping, I found that I still had enough milk to feed Maddy when I get home from work and during the night. And my boobs weren't that engorged anymore.

Next step, when I go to Vancouver for 6 days in June/July, hopefully Maddy will be completely weaned off direct feeding already.

Then time to make a new baby!

Practice Makes Perfect

Maddy's around 16 months now. She has a tendency to repeat certain actions around 10x, as if she was practicing to get it right. One time, she would keep opening the door to her playpen, enter inside, close the door, open it again, step out, and repeat!

Or she would open and close doors, as if to see how they work. Or sit down and lift herself up using the pack and play rail on a cycle.

It's really interesting to observe them doing this, showing how their mind works, and how they're struggling to perfect a task or simple activity, committing it to muscle memory or such.

Maddy at 15 Months Old

Food She Likes

Papaya
Grapes
Apples
Pomelo
Mangoes
Ponkan oranges
Eggs - hardboiled with mayonnaise, scrambled or sunny side
Pasta noodles, pancit
Congee
Rice
Squash, carrots, malunggay
Cream of squash/pumpkin
Rice+monggo
Dutch Mill
Chuckie
Fita/Marie cookies
Halo-halo (that one time we were in UCC)
Generally little bits of meat or fish

Food She Doesn't Seem to Like

Milk - huhuhu
Oatmeal
Bananas
Sayote
Doesn't seem to be into potatoes as well

What Can She Do

She can walk.

Say a bunch of monosyllables like Ba (for Barney), Bo (for Ball), Buh (for Bubbles), Mama, Dada, Ter (for Water, sometimes), Aw Aw (for Dog).
But she already recognizes a lot of things and can point them out. She can point out, when you say the word, for Book, Pooh, Dog or Aw-Aw, Mama, Dada, MiHy (MIL), DiDav (FIL), yaya, apple, banana, orange, slippers, as well as ball, Barney, bubbles and water.
She also allows me to brush her teeth and when I say it's brush teeth time. Then she just grabs ahold of her banana toothbrush after.
She can hi-five and align her finger.
She can also dance or jiggle her butt a bit, mostly to commercials and random songs.
Care of gymboree, she can hug+kiss, as well as pack away her toys (and anything else you tell her to pack away...like laundry)
She can also do the hip hip hurray move.
She has like a set of toy kikay stuff, and she can more or less put "lipstick", comb her hair.
She can drink from a cup better. She skipped the sippy cup phase.

Little Quirks

She loves to lean on her back against the bed mattress while standing up.

(what in the world are you doing kiddo)

She essentially wants to do whatever it is she sees you doing - feeding herself (the mess!), cleaning the floor, brushing her teeth.

(little helper)

(messy eater)

She blows on her food sometimes before eating it, because I guess she sees us doing it.
There are a few times she'd ask to go inside her Pack and Play, sit inside, and ask for one of the flip board books on my night table. Then she'd just flip through it on her own. I really need to get more of those.

It's not a milk strike huhu

So it's been almost 3 months already that Maddy has stopped drinking pumped/expressed milk while I'm at work. There was a brief maybe 2-3 day time when she started drinking it again, but nope, ended quite quickly.

I have come to the conclusion that she simply does not want or like pumped milk anymore.

Recently, we have been successful in having her finish small cartons of Dutch Mill (80ml) or a bottle of Yakult. We only give it to her once a day, and on alternate days.

Before she stopped drinking my pumped milk, I would pump twice a day when at work to produce two (2) 3-4 oz bottles. That's a good respite already considering that when I started, I would need to pump 4-5x a day to give her 3-4 bottles of milk. Since her appetite for milk decreased when she started eating more solids, 2 bottles of milk of day was enough.

Now, I'm only pumping once a day, and mostly just so my supply doesn't diminish further. Problem is she doesn't even take it anymore, and she feeds more at night when we're asleep.

I do want to stop, but may 40% of me says that this is convenient, she's getting good nutrients from direct feeding and from solids, she doesn't seem to need formula yet, except that I feel like she's constipated all the time from not drinking enough liquids. We've been trying to remedy that with more water, Dutch Mill and yakult.

Soon will ask pedia again if we can give flavored milk. Better than nothing.

She also seems to be more inclined to take on new drinks if they're offered through straw or through.. well.. the Yakult bottle. She seems to be complete averse to drinking anything at all from a feeding bottle anymore. Big girl na.

I am just hoping that without formula or fresh milk, she will grow normally and get enough nutrients. BUT. A bottle of formula or fresh milk, at least before sleeping, would be good sana, if only to help her sleep longer.. aka help me sleep longer.

Maybe I'll be stricter with enforcing no more breastfeeding when I get pregnant again? Nyak. Will see.

(Pumped) Milk Strike!

Gah!

Maddy's been on a bottle milk strike for more than a week now!!! She's refusing to drink from the bottle while I'm at work during the day, but is perfectly fine latching on when I get home and several times (huhuhu) at night.

Based on other mommies' opinions and advice, it appears that Maddy has figured out we've been sneaking in a bit of formula to her bottle of BM, and now has "trust" issues. She's refusing the bottle altogether, whether it's mixed or not. Can a 1 year old even be THAT smart and discerning??? Pwede ba un?!

At least she's eating solids more or less well enough. I make sure she's well fed with solids and drinking enough water.

Pedia says that at this age, they need to drink only around 16oz or 2 glasses of milk a day (whether formula or breastmilk). I really really want Maddy to start drinking like a normal toddler, of around 2-3 bottles of milk during the day, and none at all during sleeptime. Mommy needs straight sleep.

MIL suggests I put powdered formula a bit on my boobs. Okay will try that.