Isaac's first Christmas has come and gone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it added a lot of new clothes to his laundry basket! He has received clothes from Uncle Jit (Uncle router?), Uncle FayD and Auntie OB,Uncle Uncle and Auntie Auntie, Uncle Henry, Auntie Lung... Plus a sleepsack from Uncle Wolfie and Auntie Sheepie, a rattle from Auntie 0G, a hat from Auntie Agnes, multiple toys from Grandma Teresa, a set of DVDs from Uncle Siu Wai and Auntie Siu Yun, a crib mobile from Uncle Marshall and Auntie Clarinda, not to mention Mommy bought him three sleepers and an new outfit over the weekend!
Thanks to everyone for the gifts and love. :)
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sleep Deprived
For the past few days, Isaac has decided sleeping at night, in his own crib, is not an option.
And he voices his disapproval with a loud, almost screaming, cry.
To calm him down, our options include:
After calming him down, there's still the challenge of putting him to sleep. For the past three nights, the only way I could put him to sleep are:
Since Daniel has to go to work during the day, I'm usually the one whosuffers has to go through this most of the night, until I have enough and decided it's time for Daniel to wake up and take over. Trouble is, Daniel doesn't function well without 8 hours of sleep every night. To make matters worse, he has been sick and needs more than 8 hours.
That usually buys me an hour of sleep, or less, until the next feeding. He would then sleep better during the day, probably due to exhaustion.
For the past 72 hours, I probably had less than 12 hours of sleep, including the times I dozed off while feeding Isaac.
I have no friggin' idea why Isaac can sleep very well during the day, even in crowd, but not at night, especially in his own crib. He shows all the signs of tiredness when he fusses throughout the night, but just wouldn't sleep.
And he voices his disapproval with a loud, almost screaming, cry.
To calm him down, our options include:
- talk to him non-stop (hit or miss)
- sing to him (low chance)
- turn on a faucet -- take him to the bathroom, close the door, and let the water run for a few minutes (very high chance)
- play some music (low chance)
- breastfeed him (obviously, only viable for me)
- hold him and do lunges/squats (very high chance, although realistically only feasible for dad), as demonstrated --
After calming him down, there's still the challenge of putting him to sleep. For the past three nights, the only way I could put him to sleep are:
- After feeding, continue to let him stay on the nursing pillow and let him eat whenever he wakes up. I usually do that when I get too tired and falls asleep while feeding him (yes, sitting upright, without any head/neck/elbow support).
- Keep walking him, continuously patting his bottom, and talk/sing to him, until he falls asleep. Not walking is not an option--he would wake up and fuss within 2 minutes.
Since Daniel has to go to work during the day, I'm usually the one who
That usually buys me an hour of sleep, or less, until the next feeding. He would then sleep better during the day, probably due to exhaustion.
For the past 72 hours, I probably had less than 12 hours of sleep, including the times I dozed off while feeding Isaac.
I have no friggin' idea why Isaac can sleep very well during the day, even in crowd, but not at night, especially in his own crib. He shows all the signs of tiredness when he fusses throughout the night, but just wouldn't sleep.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Baby Goes on Diet?!?!
Daniel and I have been very curious about Isaac's weight gain all the time. He even contemplated getting a scale for weighing Isaac, which I advised against because they don't exist for residential use. (Daniel seriously considered electronic kitchen scale. Seriously.)
Isaac was 4.235kg in his birthday suit when we visited the breastfeeding clinic 10 days ago. Since then, we noticed he has become chubbier. He was also growing very fast (to us) height-wise, and has almost outgrown clothes for 3-month-olds. Both trends were more noticeable this week than ever.
At Isaac's one-month check-up today, we were happy to find out he was 5kg (with a wet diaper on)!
However, the doctor said he was gaining too much weight!
To slow his weight gain, I was told to put him on a "diet" by stretching his feedings to every 4 hours and spend no more than 15 minutes on each side per session. The doctor said it would also reduces the spitting up/vomiting which were due to overeating.
(He has been eating about every 3 hours, having both sides each time.)
Knowing our son's furious cries when he's hungry for too long, Daniel and I weren't sure how to implement the suggestions while keeping our sanity. Furthermore, I dislike the doctor's suggestion to feed Isaac water when he's hungry to keep him content.
After the appointment, we consulted the WHO baby growth chart. It seems Isaac's current weight is in line with his birth weight in terms of percentile. That was relieving, as it means I don't have to forcefully reduce his intake. I mean, if dieting doesn't work on many adults who consciously made that choice, I can only imagine how difficult it is to bestow it upon a growing baby.
On a side note, Isaac is 56cm tall!
Isaac was 4.235kg in his birthday suit when we visited the breastfeeding clinic 10 days ago. Since then, we noticed he has become chubbier. He was also growing very fast (to us) height-wise, and has almost outgrown clothes for 3-month-olds. Both trends were more noticeable this week than ever.
At Isaac's one-month check-up today, we were happy to find out he was 5kg (with a wet diaper on)!
However, the doctor said he was gaining too much weight!
To slow his weight gain, I was told to put him on a "diet" by stretching his feedings to every 4 hours and spend no more than 15 minutes on each side per session. The doctor said it would also reduces the spitting up/vomiting which were due to overeating.
(He has been eating about every 3 hours, having both sides each time.)
Knowing our son's furious cries when he's hungry for too long, Daniel and I weren't sure how to implement the suggestions while keeping our sanity. Furthermore, I dislike the doctor's suggestion to feed Isaac water when he's hungry to keep him content.
After the appointment, we consulted the WHO baby growth chart. It seems Isaac's current weight is in line with his birth weight in terms of percentile. That was relieving, as it means I don't have to forcefully reduce his intake. I mean, if dieting doesn't work on many adults who consciously made that choice, I can only imagine how difficult it is to bestow it upon a growing baby.
On a side note, Isaac is 56cm tall!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
McDonald's
Daniel and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday [note: I started writing this post on Sunday, so "yesterday" refers to Saturday here] to get some Christmas shopping done. As we were pulling into the parking lot, I mentioned I haven't been to McDonald's in two months. Ditto for Daniel as well, since there aren't any McD's close to his office. (Such is the price for being within walking distance from Tim's.) We jokingly said we should visit the McD's inside Wal-Mart.
Guess what McD's food we missed the most? The fries!
When we entered the store and passed by McD's, we gave in (heh) and ordered a filet-o-fish combo (with large fries!) to share.
We were tempted to get a sundae as well, but we decided to have it another time (maybe when it's warmer outside).
Guess what McD's food we missed the most? The fries!
When we entered the store and passed by McD's, we gave in (heh) and ordered a filet-o-fish combo (with large fries!) to share.
We were tempted to get a sundae as well, but we decided to have it another time (maybe when it's warmer outside).
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Addendum to Breastfeeding (Anecdote)
(Addendum to previous Breastfeeding post. Mostly anecdote.)
On the first night after Isaac's birth, the nurse for the night shift was downright unprofessional in all aspects: for example, when she was bathing Isaac for the first time, she had a "friend" (another nurse of the same ward) tag along. For the whole time of the bath (which she did very rudely; dogs generally get better treatment at pet shops), she just kept complaining to her friend about how she was unfairly scheduled to work for two consecutive weekends. Also, despite Isaac crying his lungs out at night, to the point that I walked him in the hallway (and saw her sitting at the desk, still complaining to the same friend about her schedule), she only came to do a routine check about half an hour after she said she would. For her entire 8-hour shift, she never checked up my breastfeeding techniques. Having her as my nurse for 1/3 of my initial stay was probably a contributing factor to Isaac's hospitalization.
---
After we got home, I suspected I was doing something wrong because Isaac would be on my breast forever, until I couldn't take it any more (the longest was 2.5 hours), and he would still cry afterward until he fell asleep. And because I was so tired after that, I didn't feed him every 2-3 hours like I should.
It wasn't until the home visit from a St. Elizabeth nurse on day 3 that we started to realize what the problem was. Before the visit, The nurse pointed out all the signs of bad latch that were on display: his head was tilted forward instead of backward (nose touching my breast, and I couldn't see his chin), and he wasn't swallowing. She then went on and helped me to get a good latch. Finally, Isaac was eating!
She also found Isaac having a mild fever, probably due to dehydration.
After the visit, we thought things would improve. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after the nurse was gone, Isaac was hungry again, and I couldn't get him to latch like she demonstrated. I kept trying and trying, but I just couldn't get it to work again.
At this point, Daniel's worry about the dehydration grew. A few hours later, he finally decided to buy some formula, at least to keep Isaac in check.
That was a big punch dealt to my stomach. I was a bad mom! Defeated by the formula! (Baby blues only made things worse.)
If the formula were to work as intended.
After two meals of formula, Isaac started throwing up really badly. For new parents troubled by baby's potential dehydration problem, it only made us feel worse.
At the first visit to the paediatrician the next day, Isaac was eventually admitted to the hospital and stayed for two nights.
At the hospital, the regular milk has kicked in full steam. While latching was still far from perfect (I still got sore nipples), at least it worked well enough for Isaac to be fed.
---
As of today, I don't think we have the picture-perfect latch yet. It could be the fabled nipple confusion. (Isaac is bottlefed once every night, and he sometimes gets pacifier at night.) I will continue to work on it.
On the first night after Isaac's birth, the nurse for the night shift was downright unprofessional in all aspects: for example, when she was bathing Isaac for the first time, she had a "friend" (another nurse of the same ward) tag along. For the whole time of the bath (which she did very rudely; dogs generally get better treatment at pet shops), she just kept complaining to her friend about how she was unfairly scheduled to work for two consecutive weekends. Also, despite Isaac crying his lungs out at night, to the point that I walked him in the hallway (and saw her sitting at the desk, still complaining to the same friend about her schedule), she only came to do a routine check about half an hour after she said she would. For her entire 8-hour shift, she never checked up my breastfeeding techniques. Having her as my nurse for 1/3 of my initial stay was probably a contributing factor to Isaac's hospitalization.
---
After we got home, I suspected I was doing something wrong because Isaac would be on my breast forever, until I couldn't take it any more (the longest was 2.5 hours), and he would still cry afterward until he fell asleep. And because I was so tired after that, I didn't feed him every 2-3 hours like I should.
It wasn't until the home visit from a St. Elizabeth nurse on day 3 that we started to realize what the problem was. Before the visit, The nurse pointed out all the signs of bad latch that were on display: his head was tilted forward instead of backward (nose touching my breast, and I couldn't see his chin), and he wasn't swallowing. She then went on and helped me to get a good latch. Finally, Isaac was eating!
She also found Isaac having a mild fever, probably due to dehydration.
After the visit, we thought things would improve. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after the nurse was gone, Isaac was hungry again, and I couldn't get him to latch like she demonstrated. I kept trying and trying, but I just couldn't get it to work again.
At this point, Daniel's worry about the dehydration grew. A few hours later, he finally decided to buy some formula, at least to keep Isaac in check.
That was a big punch dealt to my stomach. I was a bad mom! Defeated by the formula! (Baby blues only made things worse.)
If the formula were to work as intended.
After two meals of formula, Isaac started throwing up really badly. For new parents troubled by baby's potential dehydration problem, it only made us feel worse.
At the first visit to the paediatrician the next day, Isaac was eventually admitted to the hospital and stayed for two nights.
At the hospital, the regular milk has kicked in full steam. While latching was still far from perfect (I still got sore nipples), at least it worked well enough for Isaac to be fed.
---
As of today, I don't think we have the picture-perfect latch yet. It could be the fabled nipple confusion. (Isaac is bottlefed once every night, and he sometimes gets pacifier at night.) I will continue to work on it.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding was easily the one thing I wish I had learned more about before Isaac's birth. I had multiple prenatal classes on this subject, but for the first week or two, I still felt I had been woefully unprepared.
By the time I had Isaac in my hands, I didn't know whether the latch was good or not. Perhaps more direly, for the first few days, I didn't even know the latches were so bad that despite 2+ hours sucking on my breasts (and causing my nipples to crack), he probably didn't get to eat anything.
If you thought the nurses in the hospital would make sure you know how to breastfeed before you are discharged--I have heard that from the prenatal classes--well, I was out of luck. Although the nurses did check the feedings, none spotted the (now I know) bad latch. Like me, they saw Isaac sucking hard and they thought it was fine.
After we were home, we could count on two home visits, one from St. Elizabeth (who pointed up my latch was so bad that Isaac wasn't eating much, if at all), another from Toronto Public Health (who, due to unfortunate timing, didn't visit until well after Isaac was discharged from paediatric ward of the hospital and breastfeeding was going on fairly well).
For additional help, we were given a list of breastfeeding clinic in and around town. All of them have rather short hours, and most are by appointment only. Toronto East General Hospital was the only notable exception, which operates for a few hours 7 days a week and allows walk-in.
---
Talk to many first-time moms, and you'd notice a lot of them experienced problems on breastfeeding of varying degrees. Many had to visit lactation consultants multiple times, sometimes paying for them out of their own pocket.
If breastfeeding is as vital to the health of the baby as advertised by everyone, why doesn't the government, bearer of health care costs, provide more extensive postpartum support? Or better yet, free prenatal education on breastfeeding?
Why is the breastfeeding clinic of a local, world-renowned doctor on the subject, Dr. Jack Newman, not even publicly funded?
---
Maybe my woes with breastfeeding has something to do with us watching too much National Geographic channel. I thought there must be some innate ability--for both the mother and the baby--that makes breastfeeding a snap, like all the animals do. After all, feeding is the most important task for taking care of a baby. Not changing diapers, not bathing the baby, not child-proofing the house: babies can probably survive at least a few weeks without any of these.
How wrong we were.
Apparently, as human become more civilized, we lost touch with that magical ability. (Actually, babies can still find their way to mommy's breast even within an hour they were born. It's moms not knowing what to do.) Furthermore, thanks to the whole cultural shift of the '60s and '70s, including the feminist movement and the rise of food processing industry, we Gen-Xers were raised on formula. Even as we wanted to seek out advice on breastfeeding, our babyboomer mothers could not offer much help, unlike new moms of the past generations. In fact, not many of us (nor our parents) have seen what breastfeeding looks like!
---
Before formula, only moms of rich families are freed from breastfeeding duty. They hire wet nurses to feed the baby. Hence, the arrival of formula, not unlike mass-produced automobiles, was seen as an empowerment.
Unfortunately, as norm of family dynamics shifted to dual-income, formula has morphed into almost a necessity. In fact, in today's developed countries, breastfeeding is still a very luxurious activity. Without sufficient income and time support--either from within the family or from the government--mothers are ill-afforded to breastfeed. Bottle-feeding, especially with formula instead of pumped breastmilk, allows a mother to be freed from the single most important task of caring for the baby. Anyone can give a bottle of warmed milk to a baby, but only a nursing mother (OK, or a wet nurse) can offer fresh breastmilk.
---
From our personal experience, formula is definitely an inadequate substitute of breastmilk. Even when he was fed 1 oz of formula a day, Isaac still had a tendency to throw up a lot more on those days than the formula-free ones. (We have cut out formula completely after a few days of experiment.)
Maybe Isaac just didn't like this particular formula. Maybe we could keep trying other formulas until we find one he likes. Instead, we chose to feed him breastmilk exclusively and focused on maintaining a sufficient supply of milk in the fridge. (When we were trying formula, we have about 1 meal's worth of milk only. Now we have about 2 meals' worth stashed in the fridge.)
---
There are a lot of stigma surrounding breastfeeding in public. We have yet to figure out a way to do it. Ideally, I don't want to have to hide in the car (infeasible in winter) or washroom (gross--who eats in public washrooms??) or other dark corner to breastfeed. I'm content with covering myself up with a poncho or something, as long as I can feed my baby in areas where people can generally eat or drink.
By the time I had Isaac in my hands, I didn't know whether the latch was good or not. Perhaps more direly, for the first few days, I didn't even know the latches were so bad that despite 2+ hours sucking on my breasts (and causing my nipples to crack), he probably didn't get to eat anything.
If you thought the nurses in the hospital would make sure you know how to breastfeed before you are discharged--I have heard that from the prenatal classes--well, I was out of luck. Although the nurses did check the feedings, none spotted the (now I know) bad latch. Like me, they saw Isaac sucking hard and they thought it was fine.
After we were home, we could count on two home visits, one from St. Elizabeth (who pointed up my latch was so bad that Isaac wasn't eating much, if at all), another from Toronto Public Health (who, due to unfortunate timing, didn't visit until well after Isaac was discharged from paediatric ward of the hospital and breastfeeding was going on fairly well).
For additional help, we were given a list of breastfeeding clinic in and around town. All of them have rather short hours, and most are by appointment only. Toronto East General Hospital was the only notable exception, which operates for a few hours 7 days a week and allows walk-in.
---
Talk to many first-time moms, and you'd notice a lot of them experienced problems on breastfeeding of varying degrees. Many had to visit lactation consultants multiple times, sometimes paying for them out of their own pocket.
If breastfeeding is as vital to the health of the baby as advertised by everyone, why doesn't the government, bearer of health care costs, provide more extensive postpartum support? Or better yet, free prenatal education on breastfeeding?
Why is the breastfeeding clinic of a local, world-renowned doctor on the subject, Dr. Jack Newman, not even publicly funded?
---
Maybe my woes with breastfeeding has something to do with us watching too much National Geographic channel. I thought there must be some innate ability--for both the mother and the baby--that makes breastfeeding a snap, like all the animals do. After all, feeding is the most important task for taking care of a baby. Not changing diapers, not bathing the baby, not child-proofing the house: babies can probably survive at least a few weeks without any of these.
How wrong we were.
Apparently, as human become more civilized, we lost touch with that magical ability. (Actually, babies can still find their way to mommy's breast even within an hour they were born. It's moms not knowing what to do.) Furthermore, thanks to the whole cultural shift of the '60s and '70s, including the feminist movement and the rise of food processing industry, we Gen-Xers were raised on formula. Even as we wanted to seek out advice on breastfeeding, our babyboomer mothers could not offer much help, unlike new moms of the past generations. In fact, not many of us (nor our parents) have seen what breastfeeding looks like!
---
Before formula, only moms of rich families are freed from breastfeeding duty. They hire wet nurses to feed the baby. Hence, the arrival of formula, not unlike mass-produced automobiles, was seen as an empowerment.
Unfortunately, as norm of family dynamics shifted to dual-income, formula has morphed into almost a necessity. In fact, in today's developed countries, breastfeeding is still a very luxurious activity. Without sufficient income and time support--either from within the family or from the government--mothers are ill-afforded to breastfeed. Bottle-feeding, especially with formula instead of pumped breastmilk, allows a mother to be freed from the single most important task of caring for the baby. Anyone can give a bottle of warmed milk to a baby, but only a nursing mother (OK, or a wet nurse) can offer fresh breastmilk.
---
From our personal experience, formula is definitely an inadequate substitute of breastmilk. Even when he was fed 1 oz of formula a day, Isaac still had a tendency to throw up a lot more on those days than the formula-free ones. (We have cut out formula completely after a few days of experiment.)
Maybe Isaac just didn't like this particular formula. Maybe we could keep trying other formulas until we find one he likes. Instead, we chose to feed him breastmilk exclusively and focused on maintaining a sufficient supply of milk in the fridge. (When we were trying formula, we have about 1 meal's worth of milk only. Now we have about 2 meals' worth stashed in the fridge.)
---
There are a lot of stigma surrounding breastfeeding in public. We have yet to figure out a way to do it. Ideally, I don't want to have to hide in the car (infeasible in winter) or washroom (gross--who eats in public washrooms??) or other dark corner to breastfeed. I'm content with covering myself up with a poncho or something, as long as I can feed my baby in areas where people can generally eat or drink.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Normal Weekend... Sort of
Saturday
Yesterday, Daniel and I left Isaac at home with grandparents and went out to run some errands. Namely, refund the speaker/clock/dock for the iPod, and grocery shopping for that night's dinner. We also wanted to look for fenugreek and blessed thistle, two herbs said to help with milk production (more on that later). Plus, Toys'R'Us was having a sale on sleepers and we'd like to check them out.
Since Futureshop's cashiers were inexplicably slow (two cashiers, I was first in line, and it took a good 10 minutes before I was served), I sent Daniel to Loblaws first while I continued to wait in line for my refund.
Grocery shopping took much longer than it really should--after all, I have already decided to have lasagna for dinner. I'm still disappointed that we cannot find any PC Decadent hot chocolate mix at any Loblaws we visited in the past week.
After we were done with Empress Walk, we went to Centre Point to visit a health food store. When we finally found bottles of fenugreek and blessed thistle, I was not prepared to pay the price of $11 per 100-capsule bottles (3 capsules each every day). We left without buying.
Side note: We were both amazed that Centre Point has sort of sprung back to life. With Zellers, Canadian Tire, some semi-decent clothing stores, plus, most importantly for us, a new No Frills, it has now entered our radar again. (The last time Centre Point was relevant to us, it was the alternative to Fairview for movie going. That was back when neither of us had a car. The theatre at Centre Point was long gone, and the one at Fairview was also-ran for the longest time but is revamped and due to reopen soon.)
In case you weren't in Toronto yesterday, the weather--and by extension, the traffic--was horrible. By the time we were ready to leave Centre Point, it was already 6:30, and grandparents needed to be at dinner by 7. So we decided to skip Toys'R'Us and head home.
Sunday
After talking about it for weeks, we finally visited the breastfeeding clinic at Toronto East General Hospital today. The best things about this clinic? It's free, it's open 7 days a week, and no appointment is needed.
At this point, I was rather confident that we weren't doing anything serious wrong and Isaac was relatively well-fed. Still, we'd like some reassurance.
Ideally, Isaac should get a test weight before and after feeding to make sure he is eating enough. However, Isaac decided to wake up and cry for food--frantically, I may add--before we had a chance to take the "before" weight.
He didn't eat for too long, and soon enough he was full and fell back to sleep. When we weighed him (in his birthday suit, the nurse ordered), we were astonished that he was already 9lbs 5oz! That is up 2lbs from his lowest weight!
The nurse told us an approximation formula to calculate the amount of milk a baby needs per day: 2.5oz per pound. This comes in handy when calculating how much milk Daniel should feed Isaac in a bottle: at 8 meals a day, we're looking at 3oz a meal. It also gives me some baseline on whether I've pumped enough milk for the day. Currently, Daniel has been feeding Isaac that much on his shift, but he plans to give a bigger meal, hopefully making Isaac sleep a little longer through the night.
I asked the nurse how I should hold Isaac while I feed him. I have been using the cross-cradle hold that was taught everywhere, but it has been killing my wrists to the point that I suspect I have carpal tunnel syndrome. (I was OK for all these years glued to the computer!) The nurse taught me how to do a cradle hold instead, which doesn't impact the wrist as much.
Isaac asked for another meal before we left the clinic, so I tried out the cradle hold, and, sure enough, it was much more comfortable. We left the clinic after this feed.
As we were planning our own brunch/lunch/afternoon tea (it was already past 2pm), we decided to venture to our usual hangout at Leslie/Finch--and, instead of buying take-out, we wanted to run a little experiment and opted for dine-in. We also had the first "drive" of our stroller. During the whole meal, Isaac didn't wake up a bit. We hereby declared experiment #1 a success!
(BTW, Isaac did start waking up as we were back in our garage.)
Finally, this starts to feel more like a normal weekend!
Yesterday, Daniel and I left Isaac at home with grandparents and went out to run some errands. Namely, refund the speaker/clock/dock for the iPod, and grocery shopping for that night's dinner. We also wanted to look for fenugreek and blessed thistle, two herbs said to help with milk production (more on that later). Plus, Toys'R'Us was having a sale on sleepers and we'd like to check them out.
Since Futureshop's cashiers were inexplicably slow (two cashiers, I was first in line, and it took a good 10 minutes before I was served), I sent Daniel to Loblaws first while I continued to wait in line for my refund.
Grocery shopping took much longer than it really should--after all, I have already decided to have lasagna for dinner. I'm still disappointed that we cannot find any PC Decadent hot chocolate mix at any Loblaws we visited in the past week.
After we were done with Empress Walk, we went to Centre Point to visit a health food store. When we finally found bottles of fenugreek and blessed thistle, I was not prepared to pay the price of $11 per 100-capsule bottles (3 capsules each every day). We left without buying.
Side note: We were both amazed that Centre Point has sort of sprung back to life. With Zellers, Canadian Tire, some semi-decent clothing stores, plus, most importantly for us, a new No Frills, it has now entered our radar again. (The last time Centre Point was relevant to us, it was the alternative to Fairview for movie going. That was back when neither of us had a car. The theatre at Centre Point was long gone, and the one at Fairview was also-ran for the longest time but is revamped and due to reopen soon.)
In case you weren't in Toronto yesterday, the weather--and by extension, the traffic--was horrible. By the time we were ready to leave Centre Point, it was already 6:30, and grandparents needed to be at dinner by 7. So we decided to skip Toys'R'Us and head home.
Sunday
After talking about it for weeks, we finally visited the breastfeeding clinic at Toronto East General Hospital today. The best things about this clinic? It's free, it's open 7 days a week, and no appointment is needed.
At this point, I was rather confident that we weren't doing anything serious wrong and Isaac was relatively well-fed. Still, we'd like some reassurance.
Ideally, Isaac should get a test weight before and after feeding to make sure he is eating enough. However, Isaac decided to wake up and cry for food--frantically, I may add--before we had a chance to take the "before" weight.
He didn't eat for too long, and soon enough he was full and fell back to sleep. When we weighed him (in his birthday suit, the nurse ordered), we were astonished that he was already 9lbs 5oz! That is up 2lbs from his lowest weight!
The nurse told us an approximation formula to calculate the amount of milk a baby needs per day: 2.5oz per pound. This comes in handy when calculating how much milk Daniel should feed Isaac in a bottle: at 8 meals a day, we're looking at 3oz a meal. It also gives me some baseline on whether I've pumped enough milk for the day. Currently, Daniel has been feeding Isaac that much on his shift, but he plans to give a bigger meal, hopefully making Isaac sleep a little longer through the night.
I asked the nurse how I should hold Isaac while I feed him. I have been using the cross-cradle hold that was taught everywhere, but it has been killing my wrists to the point that I suspect I have carpal tunnel syndrome. (I was OK for all these years glued to the computer!) The nurse taught me how to do a cradle hold instead, which doesn't impact the wrist as much.
Isaac asked for another meal before we left the clinic, so I tried out the cradle hold, and, sure enough, it was much more comfortable. We left the clinic after this feed.
As we were planning our own brunch/lunch/afternoon tea (it was already past 2pm), we decided to venture to our usual hangout at Leslie/Finch--and, instead of buying take-out, we wanted to run a little experiment and opted for dine-in. We also had the first "drive" of our stroller. During the whole meal, Isaac didn't wake up a bit. We hereby declared experiment #1 a success!
(BTW, Isaac did start waking up as we were back in our garage.)
Finally, this starts to feel more like a normal weekend!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Hairy Baby, Tall Baby, Hungry Baby...
As you can see from many of Isaac's pictures, he was born with a head full of hair, almost long enough to have a haircut.
However, you probably can't tell from the pictures that Isaac has lots of hair all over his body as well: we're talking about hair as long as 1/2 cm on his outer ears, his shoulders and upper back.
That's one hairy baby!
---
Isaac was measured at 51 cm at birth. At that time, we didn't know whether that's a tall or short height--or as they say, length--for a newborn.
Then I found this length/height chart for boys from WHO.
His birth height was at about 75th percentile. Pretty tall eh?
---
Isaac gets hungry at times.
Well, all the time.
There's usually a few hours a day--seems to shift every day--when he's never satisfied. More correctly, he'd be done for maybe 15 mins to half an hour. That only gives us enough time to burp him and change his diaper (he poos almost every meal, usually during meal time; and he pees during about every other diaper change).
It wouldn't be as big a problem if he doesn't fall asleep during a meal, or spits up/throws up a mouthful or two in between meals (which means another change of clothes). Plus, my milk supply is not bottomless!
However, you probably can't tell from the pictures that Isaac has lots of hair all over his body as well: we're talking about hair as long as 1/2 cm on his outer ears, his shoulders and upper back.
That's one hairy baby!
---
Isaac was measured at 51 cm at birth. At that time, we didn't know whether that's a tall or short height--or as they say, length--for a newborn.
Then I found this length/height chart for boys from WHO.
His birth height was at about 75th percentile. Pretty tall eh?
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Isaac gets hungry at times.
Well, all the time.
There's usually a few hours a day--seems to shift every day--when he's never satisfied. More correctly, he'd be done for maybe 15 mins to half an hour. That only gives us enough time to burp him and change his diaper (he poos almost every meal, usually during meal time; and he pees during about every other diaper change).
It wouldn't be as big a problem if he doesn't fall asleep during a meal, or spits up/throws up a mouthful or two in between meals (which means another change of clothes). Plus, my milk supply is not bottomless!
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