I just got an email from Nanny candidate #2 - she can't make tonight either. A family emergency makes it so that she can't attend until next week. I sent her back an email saying that we won't be interviewing after this weekend so if she wants to reschedule it will have to be for Saturday.
Stood up last night and tonight has canceled. This sucks. I'm very frustrated with the nanny situation. I need to work and I can't when I'm out so often. I can't afford to not work and I need to get someone in here. I'm very surprised at how accomodating my work has been - I don't expect them to be as accomodating for long. When Shawn doesn't work, he doesn't get paid.
Arianna refused to eat this morning - she actually refuses to eat a lot. I can't force feed her and I'm afraid that my frequent attempts at feeding her when she won't eat are going to create food aversions. I'm so frustrated. I actually started crying this morning. She goes for a weight check later this week and I know she hasn't put on much weight at all and I won't be surprised with her sickness that's she's lost even more weight.
I made a banana/icecream/pediasure shake for her this morning, put on her fastest nipple and let her have at it - she took a few sips and is now down for a nap.
I'm so scared for her - I know she's in no immediate danger but I'm scared at what may happen if she doesn't start putting on weight. She has never been a big eater - this I know, but she eats the same amount she did months ago. By now she should be eating more amounts right?
If anyone has advice I really need some. I'm at my wits end, every meal is frustrating and filled with tears for both of us. I'm very scared for my little girl.
9 comments:
When you are trying to feed her is she giving you the "I don't like it" or the "I'm full" look. When I try to give Willow something and she doesn't like it, she will actually gag. Like I just stuck $h!t in her mouth.. When she is full she sticks out her tounge and turns her head..
Is it possible that the new stuff you are trying to feed her just isn't going over well? Are there things she just loves to eat? And if so will she still eat them? Is is possible that you are trying to shove to many new things at her? I give Willow formula, meat, veggie and fruit for her dinner meal. Once she finally got used to eating beef, chicken, turkey etc.. Then I tried giving her vegetable beef, turkey w/sweet potatoes etc.. and she won't touch them. She just won't eat the mixed ones.. But will eat just plain turkey and then plain sweet potatoes... maybe you need to go back to the basics she likes?
Another suggestion is to maybe change where she eats or what you are using to feed her with.. Like a fancy new bib she gets to use, move the high chair to a different seat at the table, change the time she eats slightly or have Shawn swap off feeding duties with you every once in a while.. When Willow first started to eat solids, she opened her mouth like a little bird for Ross, and kept it tightly closed for me.. and now that the weather is getting nice, maybe you could feed her lunch outside, if you are home with her, or dinner.. make it an event! Yeah I know, it makes more work, but maybe you both need a bit of a change to try and break away from the meals that end in frustration and tears...
I don' tknow how much she weighs,lol, but I do my little boy (who was a 24 weeker) still isn't on the growth charts at almost 3 years old. He is pretty healthy and his eating comes and goes.... he weighs 23-24 pounds now...
I agree with the first comments... those are the same suggestions I would try!
PS this is my first time to your blog... your little girl is gorgeous!
Sammie
www.n8andnoah.com
Hi Dianne!
So nice to see you here :)
She's usually giving me the "I'm full" look - turning her head away and spitting food out. She does this with everything after just a few bites. The only thing she'll eat alot of is ice cream - which is better than nothing.
Feeding her now actually involves chansing her around the house as she won't sit in her high chair anymore. We try to catch her playing with toys. She'll sometimes open her mouth if she preoccupied first. The feeding outside suggestion is good though - we may try that tonight.
We just finished an intensive feeding program through Children's Hospital of Richmond (VA) and they used a behavioral system with him. He takes a bite or drink and then gets rewarded with praise and a short time to play with a toy/watch tv. They started out with offering him his most favorite food (Pediasure) until he got the idea and then they gradually moved onto harder things until now when I say "take your bite" he will open his mouth for anything - he knows the reward is coming. The key with it is consistency. You can't give in even once or it doesn't work. But in 8 weeks Noah has gone from only drinking Pediasure to eating a variety of pureed table foods and is gaining weight! They do take out of state patients if it gets to that point, or maybe you could find a therapist locally that would be willing to work on it with you? Also, we increase the calories of regular foods with duocal and polycal so that when (someday?) Noah doesn't need the extra calories he won't be hooked on just bad-for-you foods. Maybe you could talk to Arianna's doctor about doing that?
Hello:
My little girl does not like to eat either. She is on the high fat diet etc.. back in october she had this really nasty bug. I took her to the doctor and they said Take her to mickey D's and get her chicken nuggets and french fries. I was like what. They said she would most likley eat them and that the kind of oil that they use (they say only at mickey ds) will stop them up. I was tired of chaning nasty diapers so I was willing to try anything. Not only did she eat it it worked!!! I did have to cut the nuggets into very small bites. Good luck. Your daughter is beautiful.
Kim
It took Margaret a while to learn to eat and enjoy food. She had ST an hour a week for months and months with no improvement.
What helped her? Daycare. There was a lady who taught her how to eat and I'm not sure how it happened. I think it was a behavioural thing with Margaret... like a control issue. So it took someone other than me to teach her to eat.
I don't know what kind of bottles you use, but Dr. Brown's just released a level 4 nipple that has super fast flow and it perfect for thicker things and older babies. (yes, Margaret still takes a bottle at night... :) )
Oh, yes, my only advice... and probably only good in the case where her eating problems are control issues. Keep it light. No pressure. No crying. Perhaps, don't even look at her. Just give her some finger foods and go unload the dishwasher or something.
Margaret hated cut up foods so I had to give her big pieces to gnaw off of. Half a banana, an graham cracker, etc.
And I gave her anything she would eat for a while after she started eating for the daycare worker. Even if it was only cookies, I felt that I was meeting her nutritional needs with the pediasure and I just needed to help her learn to ENJOY eating. Lots and lots of cookies. Now she begs for broccoli and we have cookies rarely.
My ped says Margaret only needs 16 ounces of pediasure to make sure she has all her nutrition. So I limit it to that and hope she'll be hungry for food. She is now 23 pounds and 34 inches at 21 months (18 adj).
Geez, that was long!!! Sorry! Email me any time if you want to talk or vent about this. It is really hard, I know.
the only thing i can tell you and i learned this after little man came home is feeding issues is very typical with former micro-preemies. factor in chronic problems like reflux, chronic lung disease and other s and the feeding problems are multiplied. your sweet girl has had a tough year just trying to stay healthy and it is typical (normal) for any child to not want to eat or experience significant decrease in their appetite. of course that doesn't help when our wee ones need to catch up in growth does it?
getting into a good feeing or speech therapy program is a huge help. perhaps a gi referral if you don't already have one on board. patience, lots of patience...definitely something i seriously lack....is especially helpful. ultimately, one way or another, your child will eat. whether it is with help or not remains to be seen. my little man got a g tube at 9 months of age which for us was a god-send as so much stress was lifted as far as getting his nutrition even when he wouldn't eat by mouth. of course the stress and worry didn't go away as we wondered if he would ever eat like a normal kid again. he did and, like everything else, it was on his preemie timetable and his terms. preschool helped big time with that. he had the tubie removed for good a year ago,
if anything, i hope just the response you are getting is reassuring that you are not alone. this can be so damn isolating as many folks just don't get why our babies won't eat.
hugs
Jennifer~
Sorry you are having such a time with Arianna and the feeding. Alot of times it is a control issue. Try to offer her a variety of things on her tray, but no pressure along with it. With Savannah, I would often put the food on her tray and let her do what she would want with it. I had much more success with this, than with trying to force feed her.
Trouble with Savannah started at 11 months that ultimately in part was due to food allergies. Keep that in mind too and if you suspect anything ask you ped for a food allergy test. Our problems have since resolved (now that we know what to avoid) and she is now almost 2 1/2 and 24-25 lbs! Her "little" sister will probably catch her soon-lol. Hang in there....
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