Happenings and 6 Month Schedule

A few things have happened this week:

First- I subbed for the first time ever! I put my name in last week, and was called Monday for a half-day in 2nd Grade. It went well. I'm excited to work when I so choose. I hope to sub one or two days a week. But I have found that I don't sleep near as well when I am laying there waiting for the phone to ring each morning or praying that it doesn't. :)

Second- My son HATES to eat! He doesn't take his bottles. He hates his cereal. And he refuses to open those little lips for his vegetables. I guess he can't be perfect all the time. He will take his morning bottle great because he is starving! But for his last three bottles, he will only take 1-2 oz. before he puts up his squirming, kicking, and squealing fight. Most of the time I am able to distract him with singing or shaking a toy above his head as he lays on the floor and drinks his bottle. It is like he gets his tummy full, and then he is bored of eating. He just wants to play and roll around. Usually, I can get him to take at least 3-4 ounces at each feeding. Sometimes it's 5 ounces, but rarely it's all 6 ounces.

After his morning bottle, he gets a bowl of cereal. For several weeks, he was eating oatmeal just fine. But then he started to refuse to open his mouth, and he would fuss and turn his head to the side. I started mixing in a little unsweetened applesauce. That didn't even help.

Same thing happened with his vegetables. For two days in a row, he took his squash perfectly. In fact, after the first couple feedings of eating one cube of squash, I moved him up to two cubes. Then on the third day, he refused to eat that too. So I tried giving him carrots. He does seem to like them better, but he still puts up a good fight. He is currently eating one cube of carrots after his 12:00 and 4:30 bottle. Yesterday, he ate it all, which is a huge improvement.

I dread meal times. I'm frustrated to tears at times. As his mom, I just want to be able to solve this issue. I want my son to eat and grow strong. And I want people to stop telling me that "He just must not be hungry. He's doing just fine. Look at him." I'm sick of hearing that. My son can't get by with only eating 2 ounces at each feeding. He won't be doing just fine then. The reason he is doing "fine" is because I sit there forcing him to eat at least 3 or 4 ounces while shaking a toy over his head. Feeding my child should not be that stressful or that big of a struggle. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who offers to feed Orin when he is home from work. Yesterday, he did the 4:30 bottle and offered to do the 8:30 bottle because, "You have to suffer through all his feedings everyday."

I called the Good Start company yesterday to check on their other formulas. Our nephew, Tucker, is on easy-to-digest Similac formula with already broken down proteins. There's a fancy name, but I'm too lazy to find it. But basically, Good Start said that all of their formaulas are easy to digest and have the broken down proteins. So that wasn't too helpful. But we do go for his 6 month doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I'm hoping the doctor will have some answers.

Oh and today, he ate all of his multi-grain cereal with applesauce! I started him out in his highchair, he took two bites, and was done. But I wasn't done trying and I didn't want to waste all that food, so I put him in his carseat. I turned on a Baby Einstein video we had rented from the library, and he was mesmerized. He ate it all! So can you guess what I did this morning? I hopped online and ordered a collection of "Praise Baby" DVDs. I hear they are similar to Baby Einstein, but they play worship music instead. I'm not big on my child watching tons of TV, but if it gets him to eat, I'm okay with him watching a praise DVD for 30 minutes everyday while he eats his cereal and babyfood.

Also, here is his current schedule at 6 months. We changed things up a bit since I will be subbing. I used to not start his day until 8:30, mostly because I like to sleep. However, if I get called to sub, I will have to leave the house by 7:15. So here is what we do now:

7:30- 6oz bottle and cereal
9:30-12:00- Nap
12:00- 6oz bottle and vegetable
2:00-4:30- Nap
4:30- 6oz bottle and vegetable
6:30/7:00ish- Nap till whenever he wakes up
8:30- 6oz bottle
9:00-Bedtime