Tummy Time

This week we are finally starting to focus on tummy time, which is
where you place your baby on their belly until they start screaming
their head off. The goal is to encourage Lucy to raise her head and
develop her neck muscles. So far it seams she is better at raising her
lower body and feet off the floor than her head. She even managed to
flip herself over on her little activity mat. I have given up on
attaching the over-hanging toys at this point because she is not
interested. But many thanks to Jennifer and Brenda for the mat, which
we love.

We are still working on helping Lucy learn how to eat a little easier.
Hence the tummy time and today’s trip to get a baby massage. I have
kept up with my end of the deal, by pumping my brains out. I have now
reached my goal of 600 mls a day and out pace her by three or four
bottles. And if I have three days of 600 in a row, which I think is
today, I can cut down to only seven pumps a day. Wow! What will I do
with that extra twenty minutes of free time. Well, part of "my plan"
is to lay around cluster feeding for two to three hours for practice.
We decided that four or five hours was too much.

It could be a coincidence, but her baby acne seemed to drastically
improve after her baby massage. But it also seems to come and go. So
it may be back in the morning.

Essentially we used olive oil to stroke her back, rub circles, and
massage her neck. Lauren pointed out that Burt’s Bees Apricot Oil
smells really nice, so I may try that instead. Pat taught me a few
mouth exercises to help her develop her feeding muscles. I also picked
up a book on infant massage, which includes some songs and routines.
Finally something fun to do besides feeding! Lucy loves it when we
sing to her, too.

Several of these activities, like the mouth exercises and bottle
feeding her while pumping, strike me as triggers for therapy later in
life. I’m sorry, little one. If it makes you feel better, today’s
analysis says "patient mom persisting with breastfeeding." That sounds
like some sort of sad headline. I’m hoping that things pick up soon. I
keep discovering little pieces of the puzzle. One day… I hope life
will move on.