So last night she was in bed by 9:30 again, but she woke up at midnight hungry for a bottle. But at least I got to watch 24, The Office and ½ of Heroes before she woke up. She was sitting with her eyes closed against the back of the crib, crying so I made her a bottle and she settled down. Tonight she however was back to her old tricks and didn’t go to bed until midnight, then like clockwork she was “sleep sitting” at 2:00 AM. This time she was only sitting and fussing and wanted her pacifier and to be rocked back down, she didn’t need a bottle. But this getting up in her sleep is worrisome. Not in a I am obsessing way, but in a who knows what I am in for later way.
So this morning I had to get up early for an appointment with the Regional Center Therapist, it is part of our services to see her 1-2 times a month. We hadn’t seen her since the beginning of December. I was a little resentful for having to wake up early because originally the appointment was for 10:00 but she moved it up to 9:30 then when we spoke I tried to push it back but we agreed on 9:45. So I wake up to meet her and she doesn’t get her till 10:15. She says that her next appointment got pushed back and she wanted to let me sleep. I was sort of short and said; well I was expecting you at 9:45 so I woke up then. She of course apologized and we ended up having a great session where I basically just told her about the last two months, our trip to Florida, Holly’s latest antics, ect.
But get this. Holly sleeps till 11:00. I was like geeze, this session was nice, but I could have used the extra 90 minutes of sleep. I suppose I could have woken her up but I didn’t really mind having an adult conversation without a baby around. So since she woke up so late she didn’t want to take a nap. I ended up putting her in the swing turning on Baby Einstein Lullaby time and took a quick shower by the time I was out, like ten minutes she was asleep. By then it was almost 2:00 and we had a playgroup set-up for 3:00. I ended up waking her to head out just before 3:00 and we had an amazing time at the playgroup.
There were nine moms at the group ranged from 5-13 months. Holly was by far the most active crawling around and climbing over the other kids and cruising around. Most of the other babies could sit somewhat independently, and sort of crawl very slowly. It was neat to see the various sizes of the babies too. There was a 6 month old boy Carter who was 22 lbs, but he wasn’t “plump” just a big boy, and then the oldest little girl Cora was 13 months and she weighted only 17.5 lbs. Holly loved playing with all of the different toys and seeing all of the different babies. We had a great time. On the way home she fell asleep so I let her nap and ran some errands. I guess though I shouldn’t have let her take that second nap, I am sure that’s why she didn’t go to bed. So we will see what happens in the morning. I’ll let her sleep in though, so that she can stay awake till her PT session, and then we have to drive down to San Jose to pick up 300 “Pit Ball” balls for only 20$ The mommy has a “Play date” to watch Lost. My plan is to let her have only 1 nap, so hopefully she will go to bed early.. We will see.
Oh.. Here is a question.. Holly has not wanted to eat as of late, or at least less than usual and nothing “good for her” like green Beans, Carrots, ect. So today after trying to get her to eat Green Beans I decided to mix the ½ container I had with a ½ container of Pear, Blueberry, and oatmeal. I know it sounds gross. But at the mom’s group one of the moms was saying that she makes shakes for her 4 year old that are Banana, Blueberry, and Frozen Broccoli. She says that you can’t taste the broccoli at all and her daughter gets her veggies. So I thought why not try it with the baby food. It worked, she ate the entire container. So this is my question. Should I be trying to get her to like the taste of Green Beans and push them on her, and then let her “stop” eating, or should I mask the flavor for her and get her to eat them all. I do intend to get her to try a few bites first but rather than give up or give her something else like bananas why not mix them. So what do you guys think, does this teach her now that she can be a picky eater?
Ok so I lied, one more question. Katie Holly’s OT/IDS says she is totally capable of feeding herself a bottle, and the other night we were watching Supernanny and the parents were giving their 4 year old NT kids bottles. Then another episode, maybe Nanny 911 there was a 3 year old on his bottle. In the first situation I think it was just easier for the parents (they had 2 sets of twins, 2 and 4), but in the second one the mom was basically babying her little one and didn’t want him to grow up. The Nanny took the bottle away and after a 45 minute tantrum he asked for a cup of milk and it was over. He was at the fridge filling a glass with water and never looked back.
Anyways… Long tangent.. I let Holly sit in my lap and I hold her bottle for her and feed her. She is capable of holding the bottle, though she sometimes doesn’t get she has to tilt it up to keep the formula coming but this was like two months ago, instead of embracing this and encouraging it, I kept feeding her. Now she is too “lazy” to hold it. She likes to play with her ear, and her blanket and often she falls asleep, so it works in my benefit, but should I instead make her hold it. I tried yesterday she kept letting go and I would put her hands back around it, finally she held it for about ½ of the bottle then let go. At that point it needed to be tilted a lot and I was trying to get her to nap so I took over. Anyways, I know there is a lot of discussion on this kind of thing but I was curious what others think, should I continue to indulge her so she eats, or should I try to continue to persuade her to feed herself, since she is capable.
On that note.. I really do need to keep up with the cup, I have only given it to her like 2 times. I really should be letting her feed herself too, but I am not quite ready to deal with that mess. I have been giving her a lot of finger food to feed herself though. Tonight she ate puffs, cheesies, and wagon wheels. Oh and then some mixed berry yogurt drops and dried apple crisps. She quite enjoys feeding herself. Sometime soon I plan on getting a huge sheet and some old cloths and letting her “finger” paint with baby food. She will be a mess, but from a sensory standpoint I think she will love it.
So last night she was in bed by 9:30 again, but she woke up at midnight hungry for a bottle. But at least I got to watch 24, The Office and ½ of Heroes before she woke up. She was sitting with her eyes closed against the back of the crib, crying so I made her a bottle and she settled down. Tonight she however was back to her old tricks and didn’t go to bed until midnight, then like clockwork she was “sleep sitting” at 2:00 AM. This time she was only sitting and fussing and wanted her pacifier and to be rocked back down, she didn’t need a bottle. But this getting up in her sleep is worrisome. Not in a I am obsessing way, but in a who knows what I am in for later way.
So this morning I had to get up early for an appointment with the Regional Center Therapist, it is part of our services to see her 1-2 times a month. We hadn’t seen her since the beginning of December. I was a little resentful for having to wake up early because originally the appointment was for 10:00 but she moved it up to 9:30 then when we spoke I tried to push it back but we agreed on 9:45. So I wake up to meet her and she doesn’t get her till 10:15. She says that her next appointment got pushed back and she wanted to let me sleep. I was sort of short and said; well I was expecting you at 9:45 so I woke up then. She of course apologized and we ended up having a great session where I basically just told her about the last two months, our trip to Florida, Holly’s latest antics, ect.
But get this. Holly sleeps till 11:00. I was like geeze, this session was nice, but I could have used the extra 90 minutes of sleep. I suppose I could have woken her up but I didn’t really mind having an adult conversation without a baby around. So since she woke up so late she didn’t want to take a nap. I ended up putting her in the swing turning on Baby Einstein Lullaby time and took a quick shower by the time I was out, like ten minutes she was asleep. By then it was almost 2:00 and we had a playgroup set-up for 3:00. I ended up waking her to head out just before 3:00 and we had an amazing time at the playgroup.
There were nine moms at the group ranged from 5-13 months. Holly was by far the most active crawling around and climbing over the other kids and cruising around. Most of the other babies could sit somewhat independently, and sort of crawl very slowly. It was neat to see the various sizes of the babies too. There was a 6 month old boy Carter who was 22 lbs, but he wasn’t “plump” just a big boy, and then the oldest little girl Cora was 13 months and she weighted only 17.5 lbs. Holly loved playing with all of the different toys and seeing all of the different babies. We had a great time. On the way home she fell asleep so I let her nap and ran some errands. I guess though I shouldn’t have let her take that second nap, I am sure that’s why she didn’t go to bed. So we will see what happens in the morning. I’ll let her sleep in though, so that she can stay awake till her PT session, and then we have to drive down to San Jose to pick up 300 “Pit Ball” balls for only 20$ The mommy has a “Play date” to watch Lost. My plan is to let her have only 1 nap, so hopefully she will go to bed early.. We will see.
Oh.. Here is a question.. Holly has not wanted to eat as of late, or at least less than usual and nothing “good for her” like green Beans, Carrots, ect. So today after trying to get her to eat Green Beans I decided to mix the ½ container I had with a ½ container of Pear, Blueberry, and oatmeal. I know it sounds gross. But at the mom’s group one of the moms was saying that she makes shakes for her 4 year old that are Banana, Blueberry, and Frozen Broccoli. She says that you can’t taste the broccoli at all and her daughter gets her veggies. So I thought why not try it with the baby food. It worked, she ate the entire container. So this is my question. Should I be trying to get her to like the taste of Green Beans and push them on her, and then let her “stop” eating, or should I mask the flavor for her and get her to eat them all. I do intend to get her to try a few bites first but rather than give up or give her something else like bananas why not mix them. So what do you guys think, does this teach her now that she can be a picky eater?
Ok so I lied, one more question. Katie Holly’s OT/IDS says she is totally capable of feeding herself a bottle, and the other night we were watching Supernanny and the parents were giving their 4 year old NT kids bottles. Then another episode, maybe Nanny 911 there was a 3 year old on his bottle. In the first situation I think it was just easier for the parents (they had 2 sets of twins, 2 and 4), but in the second one the mom was basically babying her little one and didn’t want him to grow up. The Nanny took the bottle away and after a 45 minute tantrum he asked for a cup of milk and it was over. He was at the fridge filling a glass with water and never looked back. 
Anyways… Long tangent.. I let Holly sit in my lap and I hold her bottle for her and feed her. She is capable of holding the bottle, though she sometimes doesn’t get she has to tilt it up to keep the formula coming but this was like two months ago, instead of embracing this and encouraging it, I kept feeding her. Now she is too “lazy” to hold it. She likes to play with her ear, and her blanket and often she falls asleep, so it works in my benefit, but should I instead make her hold it. I tried yesterday she kept letting go and I would put her hands back around it, finally she held it for about ½ of the bottle then let go. At that point it needed to be tilted a lot and I was trying to get her to nap so I took over. Anyways, I know there is a lot of discussion on this kind of thing but I was curious what others think, should I continue to indulge her so she eats, or should I try to continue to persuade her to feed herself, since she is capable.
On that note.. I really do need to keep up with the cup, I have only given it to her like 2 times. I really should be letting her feed herself too, but I am not quite ready to deal with that mess. I have been giving her a lot of finger food to feed herself though. Tonight she ate puffs, cheesies, and wagon wheels. Oh and then some mixed berry yogurt drops and dried apple crisps. She quite enjoys feeding herself. Sometime soon I plan on getting a huge sheet and some old cloths and letting her “finger” paint with baby food. She will be a mess, but from a sensory standpoint I think she will love it.
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2 comments:
Humans are predisposed to sweet foods so it's no shocker she prefers her greenbeans mixed with blueberries no matter how gross it may sound to us, lol.
What we did with veggies that Monkey didn't like was mix it with a gradually decreasing amount of rice cereal mixed with formula. We worked our way toward eating those veggies straight. I don't know if this was right or wrong, I just didn't want food to be a battleground. One thing that made a big difference too was using pureed fresh veggies vs babyfood. Some of the babyfood veggies taste nothing like actual veggies IMO, lol.
On the bottle. It is my expert opinion that it does not matter, lol. I suspect you will not be giving Holly a bottle at age 2, 3 or 4...it's TOTALLY appropriate for you to hold it for her now.
This is a time of bonding that you won't get back again! Now that Monkey is such a busy little guy I look back on those hours we spent sitting together quietly with really good feelings. I wouldn't want to have given up one second of it...I wish I had done it MORE actually.
And, although you didn't ask *smile*, on the cup...we really struggled with getting Monkey to use a sippy cup after we ditched the bottle at 14 months. We tried just about every style of sippy cup on the market before we found ONE he would use. The Take & Toss cups are ridiculously cheap and he loved them. THEN when he started speech therapy the ST told us we should switch to straw cups immediately b/c sippy cups promote the same speech issues that prolonged bottle use does and that using straws strenghtens the muscles needed for speech. I wish we had known this back then or we would have skipped sippy cups ENTIRELY.
Thanks Umma for the wonderful advise. You know, I realize I should treasure these moments and not obsess about every little thing, but sometimes it is nice to be reminded and given permission to "spoil" and do what works, to enjoy, and worry later.
The rice cereal is a great idea but she hates that. I might try with Oatmeal, or like Bananas or yogurt which she likes. Its weird though, because a few weeks ago she liked green beans and all the rest, so maybe its a phase.
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