Crying Over Spilt Milk

Mommy was breastfeeding Juan Or on the left breast and at the same time, Mommy was holding a small plastic container to collect milk leaking from the right breast. Prior to that, Mommy had already collected a total of 2-and-a-half oz. of milk accummulated from leaks and hand expression of previous breastfeeding sessions. While sucking milk, Juan Or 's hands were playing and grabbing at whatever his hands can reach. Once a while, Mommy was able to catch hold of his hand from grabbing the plastic container that Mommy was holding. Other times, his hand didn't seem to be heading for the container, so Mommy didn't grab hold of his hand. Anyway, Mommy can't grab hold of his hand for too long because Mommy's sitting position would not be sufficiently stable, thus causing discomfort to Mommy.



However, out of a sudden, when Mommy was talking to Papa, Mommy felt the container being strucked at and the milk spilt all over. Everything happened so fast. Juan Or's and Mommy's shorts were wet, the bed frame where Juan Or's head rested on while breastfeeding also had milk and there was milk all over the floor. What a mess! And Papa was angry with Mommy for not taking precaution and Mommy was very angry with Juan Or because he was still able to struck the container down even though Mommy was holding it.



Mommy scolded Juan Or. And Mommy can't help lecturing him about the spilt milk. Juan Or seemed to sense Mommy's anger. It all showed on his face - long, dull-looking face, sullen of sorts. And just before Mommy left the room, Mommy turned at Juan Or again and scolded him "Stupid!" (but later Mommy regretted saying it) and Juan Or jumped in startle.

This leads to another developmental milestone of Juan Or at 7 months of age - he is able to differentiate and react to friendly or unfriendly voice tone. He knows whether or not someone is scolding him.