Food Frustrations

I didn't give Avonlea solids until 6 months. It wasn't some kind of weird stance or anything--it was mostly because I was (let's face it) lazy. It was just easier to cart Avonlea around without a bunch of other food and equipment, and with how my brain is working lately, I would forget half the time, anyways.

At 6 months, we started giving her solids. Purees, mostly--apples, peaches, pears, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes (of which she is now allergic). I would also give her slices of apples and carrots to gnaw on, which worked well.

She took to purees pretty well. She wouldn't eat a lot at one sitting, but she was still being breastfed, so I wasn't worried about the calories.

She figured out how to use the pouches at 9 months, sucking the food out on her own, which was nice and helpful. Again, she still wasn't eating a lot, but she was trying out new foods, and seemed to enjoy whatever we would give her (well, except peas. She hated eating peas by themselves.).  She did show signs of stubbornness--if I gave her a spoonful of something she didn't like, she wasn't eager to try anything else from a spoon that meal. It was like she didn't trust me or something.

About a month ago, she really hit her stride. She figured out how to hold the pouches, and could eat everything in it (or almost everything). I was excited because we were finally to the point where we weren't throwing food away!  She would be quirky, and one week not eat from a spoon at all, and only eat from a pouch, and the following week, it would reverse--but she was still eating.  I continued to give her bits of "real" food, too--a stalk of steamed broccoli, apples, some rice puffs, a bit of pancake, a cracker, some goldfish, some Cheerios.  She would gnaw on them, but she wouldn't swallow anything solid.  If it was too big, she would just work it with her tongue until she could spit it back out.

Well, about 3 weeks ago, she decided she no longer wanted food. Nothing. No purees, no solids, no finger foods.  She won't let me feed her, and she won't take purees from a pouch herself.  I will put some "real" food in front of her, and she will play with it, but next to nothing goes in her mouth (the dogs have learned to sit by her high chair, because she will often drop the food off the side).  If I try to put something in her mouth, she turns her head away quickly, or spits it out immediately--she doesn't even taste it.

Around 9 months, when she got on the food kick, I slowed down her breastfeeding during the day--but as a result, she was waking up every couple of hours at night to eat.  Since she's been on the food strike, I am breastfeeding her more during the day, and she's letting me sleep 5 hour stretches at night. Yes, I know she should be sleeping all night. I KNOW. I was hoping that by bumping up her calories during the day, she would sleep better--but that is blowing up in my face.

I am just really frustrated. I try new foods, she won't eat them. I try "favorite" foods, and nothing. I try purees from a spoon and from a pouch, and I may get her to eat one bite or one sip from the pouch, then she won't eat any more. She won't eat ANYTHING chunky. I have been a successful getting her to eat Greek yogurt--but if she gets any fruit bits, she works and spits them out.

We're on a strict budget, so I HATE buying food that she ends up not eating, and then I have to throw out.

Did any of you experience this problem? Should I just ride it out, or should I worry that I'll be serving my baby a pureed 1-year cake?

A Typical Day

My New Year's Resolution was to write more often, and here it is the beginning of February, and I think I have written less.

Part of the reason is that I am enjoying my girl. This week she has napped much less than normal, so I have been spending more time with her during the day. This is great, because with as much as she usually naps, I don't feel like I get enough time with her. Isn't that crazy? I see her all day, but I still feel like I don't see her enough.

Another reason is that to be honest, a lot of our days are kind of similar.  Here's a typical day:

7:30am - Avonlea is up for the day. I bring her into our bed with a couple of toys (or a box of tissues or a water bottle will suffice, too). She'll hang out in bed with us while I either read my Facebook feed or Instagram for a few minutes, or try to catch a few more zz's.

8:15am - By this time (at the latest), I am up for the day, making breakfast for she and I. I have also started making lunches for Nick, since we're on a budget and he can't go out to eat every day anymore. Avonlea eats solids at her high chair in the doorway to the kitchen while I make food.

9:00am - Avonlea is usually ready for her morning nap. I breastfeed her, then she goes down for anywhere between an hour and two-and-a-half hours (if I'm lucky).

While Avonlea is napping - do laundry, dishes, clean family room, check emails/FB, watch a couple of YouTube vids. I am trying not to be on the phone or on the computer while Avonlea is awake.

Whenever she gets up (usually 11:00am) - Playtime! She has a basket of toys that we get out, and she sits on the floor playing with me. These days, it is a little bit of playing, and a whole lot of crawling around the living room, exploring new areas she has only been able to look at for 9.5 months.

12:00pm - Usually in the afternoon we'll go to the park, or go to the library and the park. I pack a lunch while Avonlea is napping, and we'll go sit there for an hour or so. Avonlea loves the library already, which makes me so happy. On non-library days, we'll run errands during the afternoon.  I feed Avonlea solids at the park, or while we're out.

1:30 or 2:00pm - Avonlea is ready for her afternoon nap. I breastfeed her, then she goes down again for an hour or two. Though, this week, she has taken either the morning OR the afternoon nap, not both. Hopefully this is just temporary--I'm not ready for her to give up her two nap schedule yet!!

Whenever she gets up (usually 4:00pm) - Playtime! Usually at this point of the day, she is tired of her toys, so we play games together. She LOVES to dance and sing, so we'll do that for a while. She also loves to be tickled and she loves to play with my face, so we'll sit eye-to-eye for a while and just chat.  After a little while, we're just in survive-until-Daddy-gets-home mode. :)  I'll feed Avonlea solids again around 5 while I'm getting dinner ready.

6:00pm - Bathtime when Daddy gets home, or just hang out with Daddy while Mommy finishes dinner.

6:30pm - Depending on how her afternoon nap went, she'll either be ready for bed now or at 7, so I do bedtime routine. I breastfeed her before she goes to sleep.

10 or 11pm - Avonlea gets up to breastfeed.

2:00am - Breastfeed
5:30am - Breastfeed
7:30am - Start the next day!

Pretty much this is what every day looks like, which is why blogging is kind of a last-on-my-mind thing. Other than detailing her developmental changes (of which there are a lot), I don't have a lot to say. Or, I do have a lot to say, but I don't think about writing it down. *sigh* New mommy problems.

Scheduling note: Yes, she is still getting up several times at night to eat (last night, it was every 2 hours). I think I need to breastfeed her more during the day, so she's getting more daytime calories, but if I feed her more during the day, I feel like I'm feeding her all. the. time (either solids or breast milk). Hmm...

New Milestones

We gave Avonlea her first tastes of "real" food this week.  Amazingly, I didn't get her first tastes on video or in a picture!  Shocker, I know.  :)

I have resisted giving her solid foods because I want her to stay on mama milk as long as possible.  After all, we worked SO HARD to get the breastfeeding thing going--I'm not going to stop yet!  :)  Also, it is just *easier* to do breastmilk only. And, as I think we are establishing that I am the laziest mom ever, I will definitely go for the easiest option.

I also didn't want to force the issue if she wasn't ready.  But, I knew that she was ready when she started grabbing for everything, and being very interested in what I had in my mouth.  We've been giving her water from a straw for the last few weeks, and she has slowly figured out how to keep it in her mouth, instead of letting it dribble all over her clothes.  Since she has learned how to use her tongue correctly, I figured it was time to start solids.

First, I gave her a little kernel of the oatmeal I was eating.  It wasn't really a planned thing. But I was eating it, and she was watching me so intently, that I put a little bit into her mouth. Her little face was so funny!

Then, last Sunday, it was a taste of the tomato basil soup I was eating. Daddy was there to see it, and he asked, "should we be recording this?"  Since I only gave her a smidgen, we didn't record it.

At my mom's group on Tuesday, I was eating a pear slice, and she completely commandeered it.  She was sucking on it, and "chewing" on it, and having a grand old time. :)  That time, I *did* get a pic:

Finally, this weekend, when we went to San Diego, she would not breastfeed in the car. She is definitely to the point where she won't eat if there are any distractions. At home, I have to go in her room and turn the lights off for her to eat. In the car, in a parking lot with wind and cars, etc, there was no way she was going to eat.  So, we went inside the Target where we were parked, and I bought a pouch of pears.

Can we talk for a second about the lack of jars anymore?  I miss those little jars.  The end (I said it would only be a second).

So, while we were driving, I fed her some pears.  This time, I did get it on video:

I also took some pictures:

I went to the grocery last night after we got back and picked up some pears, avocadoes, prunes, chicken, mangoes, and sweet potatoes.  Girl is going full-on into solids!  I am going to try to make as much baby food as possible.  I bought these baby food freezing trays, and a travel spoon set. Now I need to bust out the bibs, too.