Den Bosch + Lactation Brownies

Monday

We actually ended up waking Arthur up at 8:15. He had slept very well through the night with no noise machine at all, so we think we might stop using it. What a big milestone for our big six-month-old!

The morning was filled with tummy time and solids: first more of that disgusting cauliflower purée (he made a couple of horrified faces at first, but then seemed to want more and more) followed by some pumpkin purée to freshen up his breath (still not crazy about this, but he ate it).

Later, we went to the Ekoplaza to investigate whether I could find any iron-fortified baby food - unlike in the states, it doesn't seem to be much of a thing here, and the only baby products I could find thus far with added iron also have a bunch of added hydrogenated oils and/or sugar. I did in fact find a single baby porridge that has a pretty reasonable ingredient list and added iron, so I'd consider it a success. And the cashier commented on how Arthur "looks like his mom in the eyes," which made me very happy. I always feel like he takes after Miklós much more than me, a feeling which is only reinforced by Miklós and his parents. So it's nice to get some validation that he's also my son.

He didn't nurse a lot when we got home, so we had another snack session in the early afternoon, if I can call it that. I fed him some watered-down tahini, but he was pretty unenthusiastic about it. Still, he ate it. Now that he's six months, he can start drinking water, so I tried to give him some in a little sippy cup. He seemed to understand what it was for, and did try sucking on the rim a bit, which was a great start! Still, he struggled with the idea of tilting it upwards for the water to come out. We'll keep trying and see.

He seemed to have some pretty bad reflux going on today, and kept arching his back and fussing during an afternoon nursing session. I gave him some simethicone drops to help, and I think we will try feeding him baby probiotics as well. I'm concerned about how thin he is, but at the moment, I don't think it's due to a low milk supply, as I have indications that I'm producing plenty. But he seems less interested in nursing these days, whether from the boob or from the bottle, and I'm worried there's some GI issue going on. Still, we decided that starting today going to try bottle-feeding him for his bedtime nursing session to make sure he is getting enough then. Meanwhile, I will power pump. And it will be good check in with the Consultatie Bureau on Wednesday to discuss options.

At least he drank quite a bit better at the next nursing session. And at dinner, I fed him the last bit of that scrambled egg I made a few days ago, which, once again, was a hit - he guzzled all of it down and would have happily had more if there was any. He still drank fairly well from the bottle afterwards (130ml), for which I was grateful.

Post-dinner happiness

Thus on Monday, Arthur ate:

• cauliflower

• green onion

• onion powder

• whole-milk kefir

• pumpkin

• tahini

• egg

• turmeric powder

• garlic powder

• ghee

Tuesday

Arthur woke up early on Tuesday: around 7:15 (again, after a night with no noise machine!). He was famished by the time he got to my boobs, and started fussing as soon as the milk wasn't coming fast enough. It was not a fun morning nursing session, and I'm worried it has something to do with him having the bottle two nights in a row. He was a bit restless during the second feeding as well - not fussing, but not terribly hungry either. Miklós picked up some baby probiotics this morning, and I'm starting him on them, to see if it makes any difference. The third feeding was another fussy one.

We had yet another house viewing to go to, this time in Den Bosch. At least it was only a single viewing, rather than five back-to-back like the previous time, so it was a bit easier on us all. We got going a bit before 1:00, so we would have some time to explore the city and its take on carnival. However, we ended up not really having time for either - by the time we got there, we had just an hour to look for a toilet, try to change Arthur, realize we hadn't packed wet wipes, find and buy some of those, and run to the house we were viewing.

The house was ridiculously tacky, to the extent that it almost seemed like a joke. Think lurid wallpaper, framed artwork of a chimpanzee in sunglasses, huge dolls and Buddha statues everywhere (although there were also Christian crosses so all religions were welcome, I guess), and a tanning salon in the attic. It was completely bizarre. But the location was fantastic, the kitchen recently renovated, and the asking price quite a bit below

The only sleep he got during the trip

market value, so I guess we'll try bidding on it. I doubt we'll win the bid, but it can't hurt.

However, it was a long day for Arthur. He slept for maybe 20 minutes on the way over, but fussed for much of the rest of the way. He was unhappy on the way back as well, and, like last time, fell asleep right before we got home. I did my best to keep him entertained with Sonja, his zebra rattle toy, singing, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (which worked surprisingly well). The poor guy didn't seem to have much of an appetite, even when we got home, and barely nursed all day, which I'm not happy about. At least he drank a decent amount of formula before bed.

How bookworms spend road trips

For Valentine's Day, Sonja had given Arthur a fancy baby food purée consisting of carrots, potato, sweet potato, and parsnip, and I brought it along with us as car food fuel. But, because a vegetable purée is pretty low-calorie and I am starting to get more and more concerned about Arthur's weight, I melted some ghee and mixed it in there before we left. But he absolutely hated it, and I couldn't get him to eat it at all. I don't know if it was because he was upset about the car ride, or because of all the ghee I put in it, or because he didn't like the purée itself, but it was a total bummer; I had been hoping to use it as a means to pacify him during the car ride.

So on Tuesday, Arthur ate (but barely):

• carrots

• potato (new food!)

• sweet potato

• parsnip

• ghee

With the business of carnival and a road trip, dinners on Monday and Tuesday were ready-made options. But I did make another batch of my favorite lactation cake on Monday. This was kind of a funky recipe that I actually made using ChatGPT! I just listed various ingredients we had at home, and asked it to make a high-protein recipe that contained certain galactagogues (pumpkin, nutritional yeast, flax, and oats) and to pick other ingredients at will from what I had in stock. It came up with the following recipe, and I was impressed by how well it turned out! I'm not sure whether it actually increases my milk supply, but it tastes damn good and each piece has over 12g protein, so I like having a piece every day and calling it medicine. Here's the recipe:

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Mama's Magic Milk Manna (makes 8 slices)

Ingredients

• Dry:

  • ¼ cup oats (I used small grain)

  • ¼ cup flaxseed flour

  • ½ cup whey protein powder (60g, or two scoops)

  • 3 tbsp lupin flour (this could probably be swapped with more flax or whey)

  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast

  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder

  • 1 tbsp hemp hearts

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • ½ tsp salt

  • optional but good: a sprinkle of decaf instant coffee

• Wet:

  • 250g egg whites (half a carton)

  • 175-250g pumpkin purée (I've used the lower and upper ends of this based on what jarred pumpkin I had available and both were fine - there's a lot of flexibility with this recipe)

  • 5 squirts sucralose/other sweetener of choice

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • optional: additional flavor extracts of choice

• other optional additions: nuts, nut butter, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, sprinkles/glitter to top

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2. Mix dry ingredients, then add the wet ones, stirring until a thick glossy batter forms.

3. Spread in a small baking pan (I use a silicon one) and bake for about 30 minutes, until set in the center.

4. Cool completely and then slice into 8 bites.