About a week ago, we decided to take away his pacifier for naps and nighttime sleeping. Orin was establishing bad habits of waking up prematurely (like around 5 or 6 am and about an hour earlier for naps) and crying. Because I did not want him awake quite yet, I would run in and give him his pacifier. Now for his morning and afternoon naps, that wasn’t as big of a deal. But 5 or 6 in the morning does not suit me well, and running in there a couple times each morning really was not working for this mom. So, I took away the pacifier starting during his nap times for the day. He did super…way better than expected. He laid there and talked himself to sleep. And since then, he doesn’t take a pacifier for any sleeping. If he cries at all, it is for less than 5 minutes and then he is out like a light. However, I do still carry a pacifier with us if we are out and about in public or in the car. In case of a crabby time or if he needs to sleep in the car, it is easier to just give him the pacifier.
Anyways, so the same day I took away the pacifier, I noticed that he was eating tremendously better. It was like a light switch. Just the day before, he fought and refused the bottle, and then the next day he switched to drinking almost all of it while lying in my arms. I couldn’t believe it. But it never clicked in my head until about 3 or 4 days later that it probably was related to taking away the pacifier. Something about his sucking quota and how he was satisfied with sucking on the pacifier, so he didn’t need more of the sucking stimulation from the bottle after his tummy was a little full. Sounds crazy, but I’m convinced that there is some relation.
So, now we have a babe who eats extremely well considering where he was at just a week ago in the eating department. He takes all of his bottles every day. Sometimes, he still has to lie on the ground to take the last ounce, but he will lay in my arms for the first 5 ounces. It’s amazing! I’m still cutting back on the solids. He usually gets one meal of baby food a day. Sometimes that’s cereal and sometimes that’s baby food. Yesterday and today he got two cubes of vegetables for supper and nothing for breakfast or lunch. We’ll work our way up to that, I think.
Who knew…having a pacifier for naps and nighttime (even though he would spit it out after he was asleep) somehow was/is connected to taking full feedings and eating the recommended number of ounces in a day.
I’m just thankful that he has made it this far. I just pray that it continues to get better and better!
No comments:
Post a Comment