I ordered raw amber teething necklace for Jacob from Inspired by Finn online store as his 7th month present. Sophia has been wearing hers since she was an infant. I hope the necklace will calm Jacob's irritability & give him more peaceful sleep. So far I got rid of my favorite daily cup of Two Leaves and a Bud darjeeling tea to decrease Jacob's caffeine intake (whatever small amount passes into my breast milk). It's harder to get through the day without some caffeine & I even occasionally catch myself falling asleep when writing in patients' electronic charts at work (thankfully, no one seems to notice).
Jacob's 2nd set of teeth (top front) is coming in so our biggest hurdle is still lack of consistent sleep. The longest Jacob sleeps is one 4-5-hour stretch at night & then he is up every 30"-2 hours on most nights. My Mom decided to take a day off & spent one night at her friend's house recently. I was so tired from watching Jacob, I took a 3-hour nap upon her return the following day. I don't know how she does it night after night.
Jacob continues to love food. He is so eager to try all sorts of flavors & textures. He is curious & looks forward to trying something new every day. I simply can't eat in front of him anymore. Just as I put a bite of something into my mouth, he opens his mouth as well & looks so disappointed if I don't put something into it. He really reminds me of a baby bird. He doesn't just ask for food; he demands it by yelling, squinting & jumping up & down in my arms. We keep laughing about him not ever going hungry.
Jacob's breast milk intake decreased somewhat. I now have 8-10 oz of milk sitting in the fridge on most days where as before he drank almost everything I pumped & I often worried whether I could keep up with his eating demands. I still pump about 5-6 times a day (25-30 oz total), & it has been a relief to go longer between pumping sessions. I even can get away with taking only 2 pumping breaks at work instead of having to pump every 3 hours when Jacob was younger.
My Mom & my husband keep telling me to quit pumping soon, but I just don't feel ready. Every time I read the formula ingredients (corn syrup solids, anyone?), I can't imagine putting it into his little body. I feel as long as Jacob has my milk he is protected. I don't mind the inconvenience & the lack of sleep due to the round-the-clock pumping since my breastmilk keeps him relatively healthy. I tell my husband that we are going to be up at night anyways, & I'd rather it be for pumping than to care for a sick baby. Also, I feel uneasy about quitting "breastfeeding" & not vaccinating (at least partially). With the immune support provided by my breastmilk gone, what's going to keep Jacob from catching multiple viruses & bacteria out there?
On July 6th (at 7 months & 8 days old) Jacob began crawling. I especially memorized this date since his crawling began so much earlier than I expected. Most surprising of all, it preceeded him learning how to sit independently! I often wonder why Jacob is developing so differently from Gerritt & Sophia. Genetics? The fact that he's been almost exclusively "breastfed" since birth? Maybe it's because he had a chance to fully "bake" staying inside me for exactly 41 weeks? Or maybe because he hasn't received any vaccinations? Even though Jacob doesn't crawl on all fours & does it while laying on his abdomen, he is surprisingly fast. On his 2nd day of crawling he got into the dog food bowl & spilled the dog food all over the kitchen. And so it begins...
After a cold & cloudy June, we finally got some sun & warmth in July. Poor Jacob got his first cold. We've been blessed he hasn't gotten ill until now. He was feverish & had a hard time breathing through his stuffy nose. He lost his appetite & started to eat less often. My Mom & I probably haven't slept for at least 4 nights (Jacob was up crying every 1-2 hours). I even had to resort to putting him to sleep in his stroller while sitting upright. We put a few drops of my breastmilk into Jacob's nose & suctioned it with a bulb syringe every few hours (with him screaming & struggling to turn his head away), but other than that there was not much else we could do. Gerritt, Sophia, my husband & I all went through the same cold just a few days prior so I was hoping my breastmilk would already contain the antibodies to help Jacob fight this virus. I was happy once more for not quitting exclusive pumping too early.
Additional Resources:
32 Natural Remedies for Colds, Congestion, Coughs, and Fevers in Infants (newborn to 6 months) by Dionna from Code Name: Mama.
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