Friday, October 2, 2009

Now I understand Mommy, Esq. a little better

We continue to make minor advances with cry it out. Cameron only fussed from 4:30 to 6:30 AM. But her latest trick is to refuse eating. Yup, my child has decided that bottles are not for her. I still have breast milk that she's eating in addition to formula and she is refusing both equally. So my guilt (damn you, mommy guilt!) over stopping breastfeeding is somewhat mitigated.

Yesterday Cameron ate only 4 ounces at daycare plus two solid feedings. For the past two weeks it has been a struggle to get her to eat her bottles in general but it was never as bad as what happened yesterday. I've been sending her in with 4 ounce bottles, down from her high of 5 ounces, with the hope that a slight reduction in amount coupled with stretching it out to 3 1/2 or 4 hours (from 3 hour increments) would get her to "clean her plate." No such luck.

If I'm lucky Cameron will take 6 ounces in the morning for me, 8 ounces at daycare and another 7 ounces (split between two bottles) at night. That's only 21 ounces! Gah. So frustrating. This is what Mommy, Esq. has been dealing with for over a year? I'm already sick of worrying about it and it's only been a couple of weeks for us!

I talked with her teacher today and said that if Cameron didn't finish her first bottle that she shouldn't be offered a solid food lunch. Perhaps that will help? My concern is that I know she should be getting the majority of nutrients from bottles, not solid food. And frankly, she should be hungry for it! It's not like she is getting a ton of solid food. 1/2 jar plus an equal amount of rice cereal. It is certainly not enough to sustain her alone.

It would be nice if I wasn't worrying about this alone but DH seems to think it's not a big deal. True, if it happened only once or twice I wouldn't be as concerned but it's been weeks. Has anyone else been down this path? I expected that Cameron would be up to 6 ounce bottles at this point, not down to 4! Please tell me that it will get better....

5 comments:

LauraC said...

This is a case where I would call the ped to get an opinion. We had this same exact experience with Alex. We tracked what he had each day and he would be between 16-20 oz of formula. He just really loved solids and once he started, he wasn't as interested in bottles. But we still asked the ped and the ped said as long as he was gaining weight and drinking 16 oz a day, he didn't need more than that.

Alex never once in his entire life finished more than a 6 oz bottle. The weird thing is Nate always consumed 20-25% more calories than Alex, yet their weights have remained within 8 oz of one another.

The other thing that helped with Alex was to offer him small amounts over the hour that the bottle was good. They could get him up to a full 6 oz if they offered it to him 2-3 times in an hour. But anything more than 6 oz he would just clamp down on the nipple and refuse.

Still today he would prefer to be a snacker, so we have to limit snacks in between meals or he won't eat his meals.

Mommy, Esq. said...

I would be careful about re-offering the bottle throughout an hour. We do one "break" and then reoffer but that's it. Our nutritionist strongly cautioned against "grazing" at this age. Kids have to learn to eat, feel full, stop and then have their stomach empty to feel hungry again. Usually it is instinctive but grazing can countermand that instinct in kids so young. I'll let you borrow "Child of Mine" when I am done. I do agree with Laura though that some kids LOVE, LOVE food (like Ned) and she's been on solids a month which is when Ned really picked up steam. If she is hovering around 20 ounces then she is fine. It only became a big issue for us when Penny consistently drank less (and usually still does) than 12 ounces. Do talk to your pediatrician - there could be some other factors at work here and you might as well check in.

Amanda said...

Holden goes through phases and if she has a cold she probably won't eat as much anyway. I know this has been going on longer than the latest cold though. Call your ped. he/she will make you feel better about her intake. Also, you could try a faster nipple if you haven't done that already.

Donna said...

I am not sure I would not let her have solids if she didn't finish the bottle. She won't make the connection and will get more frustrated. I would just continue to offer and when she refuses, let her. Go with your schedule and keep offering on schedule and that should work. I am of the ilk, they will eat when they are hungry.

Anonymous said...

My grandchild will not starve...wait it out...you think that this is a testing ... just WAIT