Look Who’s Eating!

Yep, it’s my little teddy bear munching on his very first solid (read: mushy) food! After 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding (yey, we’ve successfully complied with the recommendation, clap! clap!) we finally got Doc’s ok to start on solid food. Her advice, though, was very specific–that I feed him plain rice cereal only, no wheat, no soya, no other fancy ingredient. This is because we have a family history of asthma that’s why we need to avoid foods that may trigger allergies (and that’s also the reason why until now I’m not allowed to eat chicken–I’m still misssing McChicken!).

After we’re done with the check-up, we then rushed to Rustan’s to buy rice cereals and were surprised to find out that there are a lot of cereal variety but none of the plain rice type! Good thing the N@W girls suggested I try Healthy Options so now Miguel is feasting on Earth’s Best Rice Cereals every morning, yum! I intend to increase his feeding frequency to twice a day soon; I just need to make sure his milk intake is not affected.

On another related topic, seems like my battle over bottlefeeding is over! I have given up bottle-training two months ago and even put away his bottles and sterilizer. On Miguel’s second day of eating solids, I thought of offering him again a bottle of breastmilk after eating. I chose Nuk Latex Vented Nipple on instinct, as if I knew exactly that’s what he wanted, and to my great delight, he took it without protest!

This isn’t exactly an experiment as I’ve read in one of the many breastfeeding sites I’ve visited that there are babies who have no problem taking a bottle after they start eating solid food. The logic is that since they are now eating with a spoon, they are open to accepting anything in their mouth other than mommy’s breast. Fortunately, my Miguel is one of those babies. Now my new challenge is to be able to express enough milk everyday so I can offer him a bottle or two a day so he will get used to it. So pump away!

Oh How He’s Grown!

My Miguel is six months today and I feel I owe it to myself to account all his achievements within the first 6 months of his life. After all, I’ve been so lazy writing about his progress the past months so let me challenge my memory today by recalling his sixth month milestones.

>> I actually noticed few days after we were released from the hospital that he would attempt to lift his head for short moments, thus, I was not surprised when he learned to hold up his head before his 3rd month.

>> At exactly 2 months and 3 weeks, that was the morning of Easter, he successfully rolled over from his back to his tummy, and he never stopped practicing this skill until he’s a pro before his 4th month. Moreover, around this time he’s an expert at jumping; he would jump and skip and hop everytime his feet touch anything.

>> At 3 months he can very well recognize familiar faces–first in the list are mine and his dad’s of course! He smiles, laughs and coos whenever he’s talked to.

>> At 4 months he started reaching for objects and is an expert at grasping and mouthing anything he gets his hands on before his 5th month.

>> At 5 months, he started drooling and biting a lot–signs of teething, I assume. Around this time he started stringing syllables and making babbling noises to get attention. Rolling over from back to tummy and vice versa is a favorite hobby at this time. He recognizes his name (he goes by Miguel or chik-chik ), and responds to calls by turning his head towards the sound.

>> At 5 months and 1 week, he’s successful at lunging forward–his version of crawling, and he’s been busy practicing sitting up though no success yet as of this time.

That was quite a list of achievements for a six month old, whew! I hate that I haven’t started on his baby book/photo album yet . So let me just leave you with his photos at birth and today.

So what’s in my head?

Random things, that’s what! I just realized there are quite a few ‘unrelated’ things going on in my head today so I’ve decided to write them down just for fun, and to remind me of those that need to be acted upon. Here goes…

I didn’t know shopping for diapers could be so much fun until last weekend when we went to SM I felt too excited at the sight of stacks of diapers of different brands! I’m a Prokids user (as recommended by sister) but decided I’d like to try another brand as well as it would be good to have a second option when my first choice isn’t available. It wasn’t easy choosing which brand and type to buy and it took me a while to settle for Pampers, and a little while longer to decide on the “baby dry” type. Hay, I suddenly had the longing to understand the market niches of each diaper type, and somehow I was wishing I had time to do a comprehensive price comparison of different brands from different stores, hehe

And oops, I also bought a pack of Mammy Poko (again, as recom by sister), but this one’s for night time use lang as it is quite expensive.

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I’m feeling a bit anxious about Miguel’s pedia visit this saturday. And this is because I didn’t strictly follow his Doc’s advice on expressing my milk after each feeding to be given to Miguel via cup. E kasi naman, wala akong regular help who could assist in cup feeding so ang hirap. And another thing, Miguel will be given his second shot of 6-in-1 and Rotarix vaccine which means he’s gonna cry hard…and daddy’s gonna cry even harder cause that would cost him another 8k, yikes!

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On the other hand, I’m also anticipating this saturday’s check-up since Miguel’s turning 6 months next week which means Doc might give a ‘go’ on feeding Miguel solid (or should I say mushy) food. We bought him feeding spoon na din since meron na sya feeding bowl.

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After much deliberation on how to spend tita ninang lala’s cash gift, we’ve finally decided to get Miguel a playpen (a new bag for mommy’s not one of the options, no!). We initially planned on buying the typical square type but decided in the end to get the ‘pack and play’, in blue and green The colors match Miguel’s toy organizer and the rectangular shape makes it possible to fit in one corner of our small and overly crowded bedroom. Here’s a photo, mukang maayos di ba?

But hey, this playpen is just for play! Miguel is still sleeping with us since he still wakes up every 2 or 3 hours to nurse. So maybe when he’s already able to sleep through the night, I can let him sleep in the pen!

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I’m thinking party planning. Oh ya, I guess it’s too early to plan for Miguel’s first birthday but just let me check this site. Hmm, what’s a nice party theme? And oh, should I go for cupcakes or a big cake? Of course, we’ll have chocolate fountain and ice cream cart! Wait, that’s not until January of next year, so, ya, it’s too early to plan.

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Miss ko na McChicken sandwich…pwede na kaya? Let me ask Doc on saturday, hehehe!