Day 20
This morning Gus slept until 9am and we had a play date at Judy's at 9:30. Needless to say, we didn't get to Judy's on time, but she was understanding and didn't mind too much. I had a nice time with her and kinda told her a bit about my frustrations with feeding Gus solids. She said not to sweat it and he'll eventually come around and eat when he's ready. She suggested a few things to try and I'm going to see what happens. She said not to let him feed on the bottle all day, since it's like snacking. She suggested establishing a feeding schedule and sticking to it. If he doesn't finish a bottle within 10 minutes, take it away and be done with it.
I'm going to see how it goes. I was at her place until 1:50 (holy smokes!) and then got home and tried to feed Gus.
D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R!
Maybe it's the timing of it... but it was horrible. He was refusing to eat, crying, pushing the spoon away (obviously telling me that he didn't want to eat). So I gave up and put him down for a nap.
I thought he'd sleep for a while since his morning/afternoon was completely thrown off. NOPE. He slept for like 20 minutes and was up and ready to play. I let him play for about 30 minutes and decided to try feeding him again... surely he'd be hungry by now.
D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R again! Grrrrr... again he refused, cried, and swatted the spoon. I gave it five minutes and decided to stop.
Then we got to about 4:45 and I thought I'd try again. It was worse this time and I got frustrated and had to walk away. I started crying.
My friends that have babies that gobble up solids have NO IDEA how lucky they are. It's devastating and heart wrenching to constantly battle this. I feel like I'm doing something wrong and I don't know what. I try to make it pleasant... I have tried so many different things over the last three months thinking that I'd find the one thing to set off the feeding frenzy that I've seen so many others do.
I gave it three tries today and all three ended up in failure and disaster. I put Gus in his play yard and went into the bathroom and lost it. I cried for so many reasons. I'm sure being mentally exhausted is just one of the reasons, but I just want him to be healthy and happy, and I feel like at eight months, he should enjoy his feedings. Not fight me about them. I don't want to make him hate feeding time, so I don't force him, but I don't want him to keep relying on the damn bottle either.
So Steve came home to me crying. He was so good about comforting me and making me feel better. He played with Gus and pretty much was the provider with him all night.
I guess one small victory is that he loves the sippy cup and has no problem using it. He actually gets excited to see it. Better to love it now than to be a year and a half and demand a bottle. I saw a kid on Supernanny that was THREE and demanded to use a bottle (ba-ba) instead of the sippy and the mom allowed this. The mom said, "We never tried the sippy until it was too late and she just prefers the bottle." Hopefully Gus will keep enjoying the sippy and won't have a hard time giving up the bottle.
So that was the day (in a nutshell). Then I get on blogger and have been trying all night to figure out these pages... I want to link past posts to particular pages so that you can click the link at the top and it'll direct you to posts specifically about that topic. I'm hitting a wall and that frustrates me. On top of it all, I am exhausted and every night I go to bed soooo tired and lay there for more than an hour unable to fall asleep.
I'd love to take a Tylenol PM or something of the like to help me fall asleep, but can't with Gus. I told Steve that I need to just get away. I want an overnight get away... even if it's one day. Just me and him to not have to stress or worry and sleep soundly. It's not going to happen, but that'd be the most perfect Valentine's Day gift.
Anyway... tomorrow is the big trip to the Bodies Revealed exhibit in Greensboro and I can't wait. I pray that Gus does well in the car for that long (2 hours each way)... I've packed plenty of food (yes... even some solids-- I guess I have to keep trying) and diapers. If I run out, I'll find a grocery store I suppose. I'm interested in hearing if Kristen has any tips since Grace is four days younger than Gus.
I'd love to find someone who knows what I'm going through... not a bunch of people who have babies who love to eat. I don't want to hear about trying different foods (DONE THAT)... or spoons (TRIED THREE KINDS)... or anything that I have already done. No offense to anyone...
Anyway-
>^..^<
1 comments:
Oh sweetie....don't stress about the food. Until they reach a year old or so, eating solids is just practice for them. Have you only tried purees? Have you tried anything else? Maybe he doesn't like the purees? Maybe try more finger foods or feeding him off of your plate. When I am eating Charlotte is totally interested in it. She sees me eating and wants to eat whatever I have.
Keep presenting food, but don't stress too much. Try having him sit in your lap while you are eating and offering him some things on your plate. We sort of have an eating schedule. I mean she still nurses and I want to nurse her until at least 18 months if not until 2yrs. With food though, she gets breakfast around 9am and at daycare she gets lunch around 12 or 12:30. At home, she doesn't always have lunch because she is usually napping at that time. So, I don't stress too much about lunch on the weekends. Dinner is usually between 5 & 6pm depending on her afternoon nap. I pretty much nurse on demand though, I especially make sure she has nursed before she eats solids. They say until they reach one, babies should have their bottle or nurse before they eat their solids.
Anyway...I hope this helps. You can always e-mail me if you want and we can chat. Just have fun with him! :)
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