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Bottle feeding and Tai Chi - progress!
Sep. 17th, 2019 11:09 pmLast night Tai Chi was a bit of a battle. Fairly constant crying and upset from E refusing the bottle, such that when Leo gave up and called me to breastfeed, they were so upset it took me the rest of the class to soothe them. I got half an hour of Tai Chi, but I was sure there was a better way.
Proposed to Leo that we save the bottle feeds for home, when we have the ball and other things to help soothe E. I'd just breastfeed on demand at Tai Chi and we'll see how much I get to do. That way at least there won't be as much crying to contend with. Also we should remember to bring the sling, as E is often very happy to snooze in that for an hour.
We were late to class this evening, as E had a really long feed just before we left. Next time I'll start feeding them earlier in the evening I think. It was a good class though. I ducked out three times for short feeds and to support Leo with a crying baby when they got a bit frazzled towards the end, but still felt like I got to do a satisfying amount of Tai Chi.
We've got to the end of our latest run through the 18 step form, and I've got a lot more details thaan the first time I learned it. I got a lot out of the qi gong practice. And during the warmup I noticed that my flexibility is coming along really well. I'm back to the level of flexibility I got to back in March before I sprained my ankle. I can very nearly touch my toes again (something I've always struggled with). And in the side lunge stretch with both feet pointing forwards flat on floor, I can get down into a really low squat again, which makes it so much easier than when you're balancing above your knees. My groin muscles feel well used.
And I started learning fan form tonight! My first weapon form with the Shaolin Cultural Centre. I was learning narrowsword with Mei Quan, my old school, and I loved it. I've missed studying weapons. Fan is beautiful, elegant and dramatic. I'm very excited.
Oh - and last night the assistant teacher said to me she was really glad that I was bringing E to class as it showed they've succeeded in building the sort of community they wanted. I thought that was really lovely of her.
When we got home Leo slung E while we did some urgent chores and prepped food, and then when they got hungry Leo bottle fed them. They started suckling straight away and emptied the bottle! It only had 30ml in it, as we've been throwing the contents away after failed bottle feeds and didn't want to waste more than we had to, so it wasn't a whole feed. We heated another 60ml (the rest of what I pumped yesterday) but by then E was crying and refused it. I brought them upstairs to feed them but they fell asleep instead.
So, 30ml! They've been taking around 10ml per attempted bottle feed for the last week, mostly accompanied by upset, and tonight was calm until the milk ran out. So this is real progress. I feel excited that we're going to crack it. It'll take persistence, but we'll get there!
Meanwhile that 30ml was enough to let me have a very welcome shower, so I am now Clean. It feels great.
Proposed to Leo that we save the bottle feeds for home, when we have the ball and other things to help soothe E. I'd just breastfeed on demand at Tai Chi and we'll see how much I get to do. That way at least there won't be as much crying to contend with. Also we should remember to bring the sling, as E is often very happy to snooze in that for an hour.
We were late to class this evening, as E had a really long feed just before we left. Next time I'll start feeding them earlier in the evening I think. It was a good class though. I ducked out three times for short feeds and to support Leo with a crying baby when they got a bit frazzled towards the end, but still felt like I got to do a satisfying amount of Tai Chi.
We've got to the end of our latest run through the 18 step form, and I've got a lot more details thaan the first time I learned it. I got a lot out of the qi gong practice. And during the warmup I noticed that my flexibility is coming along really well. I'm back to the level of flexibility I got to back in March before I sprained my ankle. I can very nearly touch my toes again (something I've always struggled with). And in the side lunge stretch with both feet pointing forwards flat on floor, I can get down into a really low squat again, which makes it so much easier than when you're balancing above your knees. My groin muscles feel well used.
And I started learning fan form tonight! My first weapon form with the Shaolin Cultural Centre. I was learning narrowsword with Mei Quan, my old school, and I loved it. I've missed studying weapons. Fan is beautiful, elegant and dramatic. I'm very excited.
Oh - and last night the assistant teacher said to me she was really glad that I was bringing E to class as it showed they've succeeded in building the sort of community they wanted. I thought that was really lovely of her.
When we got home Leo slung E while we did some urgent chores and prepped food, and then when they got hungry Leo bottle fed them. They started suckling straight away and emptied the bottle! It only had 30ml in it, as we've been throwing the contents away after failed bottle feeds and didn't want to waste more than we had to, so it wasn't a whole feed. We heated another 60ml (the rest of what I pumped yesterday) but by then E was crying and refused it. I brought them upstairs to feed them but they fell asleep instead.
So, 30ml! They've been taking around 10ml per attempted bottle feed for the last week, mostly accompanied by upset, and tonight was calm until the milk ran out. So this is real progress. I feel excited that we're going to crack it. It'll take persistence, but we'll get there!
Meanwhile that 30ml was enough to let me have a very welcome shower, so I am now Clean. It feels great.
