Eating!!!!

For us, eating has not been the easiest task.

In the beginning, nursing was the most painful thing I'd ever done.  But, I'd always heard it was painful, so I went with it.  Little did I know that it was not supposed to bring on toe curling pain every time she ate.  I would get upset and cry, she would get upset and cry.  It would take forever for her to eat, part of which is normal for newborns, but part of it caused by the fact that it was so difficult for her to eat.  I endured some incredible damage, which was upsetting as well.  We were under close watch by Jasmine and our pediatrician, as she wasn't gaining weight well and took a long time to get back to her birth weight.

At about 3 weeks old, we had a horrible day...one of the worst days of my life.  She went on a sort of eating strike, but not because she wasn't hungry, because we couldn't do it right.  She was miserable and inconsolable...and I felt terrible and helpless.  I finally pumped and had massive amounts of milk.  I really think our living room was covered in milk.  But I pumped and put it in a bottle, and she sucked it down so fast, I was amazed.  I called our local La Leche League where I was told all kinds of things that I was doing wrong.  I was waiting too long to feed her.  She was obviously starving.  Horrible, horrible things they were telling me.  I called my wonderful midwife, Jasmine, and she told me to try the Lactation Consultant at the hospital.  I was nervous and scared and convinced I should just know how to do this and would eventually figure it out because that was what I was supposed to do. 

However, the very next day...I went to the hospital.  As a side note, we were supposed to be heading to Kansas on this very day for a dear friend's wedding.  I ended up missing the wedding because we got away so late that day and still feel guilty about it!  However...we met with Kim, and she was amazing.  She saw what I had done to my body trying to feed Neva and she was amazed.  Amazed at the damage that was done, amazed that I was still trying to breastfeed, amazed that I hadn't given up.  I cried and she hugged me.  I cried and she showed me how to do it correctly.  It was amazing.  It didn't hurt.  I hardly even noticed that she was eating.  And after one feeding?  She had already gained 3 ounces.  It was amazing.  I cried and hugged Kim some more.  She truly is one smart cookie.

And now, at 7 months we've had some trouble with eating again.  Actually, I guess it started at 6 months when we started to introduce 'solids'.  I was determined that I would make all of her baby food....wholesome, delicious, organic baby food.  We started with rice...brown rice.  She ate a few bites and seemed to do okay with it.  Several days later was butternut squash, even later were peas, later still bananas, then pears and eventually sweet potatoes.  She tried the rice a few times and some of the others a few times.  I even bought some jarred foods, thinking it was the way I had prepared it.  Still nothing.  So, I called an OT to come look.  She told us she had an aversion to food and gave us some ideas of things to try to get her to enjoy eating.  We tried these...and still nothing.  Finally, I decided to just start all over, from the beginning.  I bought some boxed rice cereal, mixed it with lots and lots of milk and gave it another try.

She DEVOURED it.  Pulling the bowl to her.  Trying to grab the spoon to get it in her mouth faster than I was moving.  I was elated!  Who knew eating could be so difficult for little ones, who knew I would stress so much about the food.  Who knew that when she ate, I would feel so much joy.  And who knew someone could look so cute eating!!  (Please excuse my ridiculous face).

And just for fun...here are my two favorite people on Easter!  Neva and I took the tram up to see Dad at work and we ran in to the Easter bunny!!!  Pics of that to come...