Making progresses

Just this morning, baby Arielle did a little flip. 

The Helper had left her on the play-mat while we were having breakfast. Just a little earlier, I was observing Arielle flaring her arms and kicking her legs at the stuffed animals hung above her and telling The Husband that it would not be long before she roll over. Then, The Husband went to the bathroom to gel his hair while I was feeding Anya. The next minute, I heard Arielle making strange muffled sounds, turned around to see and there she was, lying face flat beside her original position. I shrieked, causing both The Helper and The Husband to drop all that they were doing and charged out, thinking that one of us had broken a bone or something. 

Heh! I was too surprised. After all, she is only 2 months and 3 weeks old. So there I was, lying my head on the floor beside her, peering at her face, and my little trooper was grinning at me as if she knew she just did something great. 

 

In any case, until she does another flip in the very near future, I will take it that it was a fluke. Moving onto another bigger progress....

Right from day one, feeding Arielle was an uphill task. Sometimes, she was sleepy; Sometimes, she seemed colicky. Then other times, she did not seem hungry at all. And most of the times, she was all of the above. I would think that I could handle it well since this is our second child. I wish I could say so but the reality was I was quite the opposite of the picture of coolness.

It has probably to do with the fact that our firstborn was (quote The Husband) "a milk gulping machine". At same age, Anya was already downing 140mls. In 10 minutes flat. Then cry for second helping. Occasionally, we even had to do a third helping. So, it was a stark contrast when the second baby came along and took at least 1 hour to drink barely 120mls.

It came to a point where I even wondered if something was wrong with her and wanted to bring her to the pediatrician. But The Husband assured me that she is growing (I could not tell) and to wait and observe. So that was what we did, though I still have panic attacks every 3 days when her milk intake dipped ever so slightly. However, as you might have read from the last Thankful Tuesday post, I was more assured after her 2-month check showed that she was growing well. 

Still, I was constantly hoping and praying that the situation will improve because we are truly having a hard time feeding her. 

How hard is hard? - you may ask. Well, most of the times, we have a shot at getting her to drink her milk only when we are cradling her in our arm, standing or walking. It was hard work. It required loads of patience, perseverance and very strong arms to feed this baby.

So, two nights ago, I had a brainwave moment and suggested to The Husband that we change the teat of her milk bottle to one with a bigger hole. Sure, we were concerned that it is still early days but we thought it is worth a try. If she choked, we'll simply switch back. 

As it turned out - It was the solution.

Woohoo! No more aching arms!