Awakenings

Pig is talking...ok not really talking, more like babbling, but it's still incredible to behold. It started suddenly a few days ago, she looked up and said "ah-goo goo goo."

Some more firsts:

• Lots and lots of cooing
• Raising her eyebrows
• Laughing out loud in reaction to something PP or I did
• Lip smacking (really loud, thought she was choking on something at first)
• Some yelling "ack!"

For a few weeks now, Pig has been drooling alot and sucking on her fists. At first I thought it was her hunger cues but some spitting up led me to realize that was not the case. Then I started thinking, hey I wonder if she's teething...but at 8 weeks? Too early. Then the fussiness started. She will not nap in the afternoon. Usually a nice warm meal, some rocking and she's out, at least for 30 mins. Now, no way. She's a big time tease. She'll start with that even sleeping breathing and so I start the tiptoeing up to her crib to put her down. On my way back downstairs, she starts to stir and ladies and germs, she's back up and yelling. The only way she'll sleep is if I nurse her, and I have to nurse her lying down because then I can roll away without disturbing her. Nighttime is particularly tough because PP can usually give her a bottle and then rock her to sleep. We might have to go up a couple times but she'll usually go down for the night. Not now. For the past few days we've had to co-sleep. I nurse her to sleep and then when she wakes up in the morning I can groggily offer her the boob again. I haven't slept soundly in awhile for fear of squashing her. I love to wake up and see her little face with its open triangle mouth, but I'd love to sleep sprawled out again.

So I started thinking well, I wonder if this is due to switching to breastfeeding from exclusively pumping...she prefers not to self soothe anymore. Shrug. She still sleeps pretty well considering she's only a little over 2 months so I wasn't too fussed about it. But then two days ago, after a long, long day of having to either carry her or nurse her, she let out the weirdest looking poop. For those who are squeamish or reading this as I eat their dinner, start scrolling down.........now. Ok it was the usual mustard color but with lots and lots of dark mucus and large bits of undigested milk, looked like styrofoam. And then an hour later, another poopy diaper just like it. Two hours later, another. I freaked of course. Pig seemed all right but I was convinced her intestinal lining was coming out. So I ran down to my laptop and started googling. As usual, a number of opinions. Some say it's due to a milk allergy and others suggest that it might be due to teething, the excess saliva and mucus swallowed is irritating the stomach and making it's way out into the diaper.

Without thinking, I had some milk several weeks ago and nothing happened. So, thought I, maybe I'll start introducing some dairy into my diet, slowly. I had a small ice cream sandwich and then a day later the weird poop. Wracked with guilt, I've gone back to no dairy. But then talked to my friend E whose daughter is 2 weeks older than the Pig and she's going through the same thing...fussy, mucus poop, etc... So could it be teething? Pig has so much saliva in her throat these days she's been coughing and choking on it. This morning, she threw up a several ounces of milk after gagging on it...but that could be due to the strong milk flow in the morning, I was seriously engorged.

PP is with Pig now and she seems to be soothed by sucking on his pinky. Sometimes she'll take her pacifier but lately that's not doing it for her. So it's gotta be teething right?