The Number Field

Last year, we got a basil seedling and cared for it until it produced lots of big leaves for us. This year we had to get a fully-developed plant, since we had a different seedling on our minds and taking up our time in the early spring. We bought the plant a few weeks ago in order to make caprese salad, and yesterday I returned to it for a first real leaf harvest, so I could make pesto for dinner. The pesto was good, but I went pretty heavy on the garlic, which turned out to be a bad choice.

Elena almost always sleeps through the night once we put her down, but last night she woke up at 11, then again sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning. Both times, she had a short episode of burping and gassiness then went back to sleep. She woke up again at 5:30, this time crying out of hunger. After Jenny fed her, Elena went back to sleep and stayed asleep until after 8. I know that these details seem unimportant, but to me they represent significant deviations from her usual schedule. Luckily, after waking up for the day, she was her usual calm and happy self.

Some authors point out that garlic in a mother's diet can cause problems for a baby. At the same time, it seems that different cultures have different traditions about how food affects a mother's milk. Even though I'm happy to blame the garlic for Elena's restless night, I guess we can't know for sure.