We tried many times with the cereal and he really just wasn't interested in it to save my life. He'd take a few bites at meal times, then ask for more milk. All a pretty messy venture when he had to be held in my lap because he didn't know how to sit up yet. It was pretty discouraging. Then in mid-May I gave him his first non-cereal: Mangos. Aahh...suddenly he was interested in these puree things. He would consume a little jar of baby food over the course of three days, though, so it wasn't really a significant addition to his diet of milk. Thus he continued to wake in the night.
Then something magical occurred. I don't know if it was the heat, or the exotic location or what, but when we went on vacation in Orlando, he was absolutely ravenous. He'd down a jar in a single sitting, with a side-dish of cereal to boot. We had to go to the store to stock up because what I had planned to last for the week didn't last past day three or so. It was exciting stuff. He suddenly appeared to have learned how to sit up just so that he could eat more efficiently. I was so hopeful that sleep was just around the corner.
Then we got home and his appetite seems to have tapered off. He threw tantrums whenever I stuck him in his high chair. I never even got the opportunity to give him a spoonful of food. Oh, that meant he was REALLY hungry. He switched to waking every two hours overnight to eat. He'd go right back to sleep, mind you, so he knew it was night time. Just ravenous every couple of hours. It was awful. I tried everything from novel foods, to familiar foods, to feeding in different high chairs to just on my lap again. I thought perhaps he's like Penny and was determined to feed himself. I tried giving him Cheerios, even though he doesn't have teeth yet. He latched onto those like nobody's business. It's not really feeding himself, though, because he doesn't have pincer grasp - he can't grab the O's and when he does, he just mashes his whole fist into his mouth and hopes that the Cheerio will stay in there when he releases it. More often, I offer an O, he grabs my hand and brings the hand to his mouth, then I release the O into the gaping maw. We do this throughout the day while he plays, since the chair was taboo.
I have now slowly built up his tolerance for the chair, though it is still a bit touch and go, and "tolerance" is only about ten minutes, hardly enough for him to gum to death too many food items. He won't let me use a spoon, so I cut teeny pieces of fruit, then hand feed him. It's tedious, but he does seem to be improving his ability to do it himself. He's picky about what he'll eat as well, so there's no use making anything in quantity because he'll be sick of it in a meal or two at most. So I cut pieces from a fresh fruit for him, feed him what he'll take, then eat the rest. It does mean that I'm eating more fruit, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. I fear my big plan to stock up on fresh produce and then save the purees in the freezer went out the window, though. Alas! On the plus side, as we build up his tolerance again, the hope of sleep is refreshed. He actually had a straight eight-hour night on July 3rd. It was more a result of sleep deprivation than improved feeding behavior, but it keeps the dream alive! Wish us luck!
1 comment:
Sandy, I really think that little Paul is looking a lot like his mommy even with his dark hair I can see you in his smile and facial expressions. He is beautiful. I always thought you were the cutest little girl with that little pixie like face of yours. Good luck with the feeding times with Paul. This is always a hard time, that transition to solid food and sleeping through the night. You may as well forget about sleep for two more years.
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