Not Me Monday! ~ (Calling all moms and dads: feeding advice needed.)

OK, we're officially in over our heads.

Mallorie's lost about 1.5 lbs ... probably in just the past month. I was going to write this out honestly, but just realized I'm going back and changing the title (done) so I don't have to own up to all this. :)

I can admit this: When Mallorie was getting ready for surgery in September, I decided, single-handedly, to put her back on an all-milk diet. Breastmilk, not cows milk ... in case you want to go all medical on me. I felt it was a great plan for avoiding the problems (gagging/reflux/vomiting) we run into when we mess too much with her diet, because the one thing we know she does NOT struggle digesting is breastmilk. And it was also a way to make sure she was getting the great immune-boosting benefits of human milk.

This was not the problem. This plan did great; she kept her wt up (and I think gained a tiny bit), wasn't having digestive problems, and did great recovering from surgery. She even continued to do great when I sort of "forgot" about The Plan, and continued her only on breastmilk, because, heck. She was doing so well! She was healthy, energetic, and her health was fine. And since shortly after my supply dipped after her February hospitalization, I discovered the generous gift of milk from other mommies who allowed us to have some of their excess (Despina, Lyanna, Michelle, Tamara), I wasn't really stressed about The Plan or the timing of it all.

Here I'll start "confessing."



While I was busy forgetting about The Plan, I did not realize that she was really only refluxing at night, so I didn't decide to just eliminate a nighttime feeding so she could go a longer stretch at night between feedings ... but forget that she needed to make up those calories elsewhere.

I surely didn't focus so hard on replacing total fluid volume to prevent constipation(so I gave extra water and Pedialyte pre-feeds), that I forgot everything I ever was taught about nutrition.

I didn't fail to even think about calories until the Early Childhood dietician came by with his portable lie detector scales.

I didn't sort of shrug when I realized my error, and think, hey, she's still healthy, and sort of slowly edge back on The Plan, until a couple visits to Dr. B required something of an admission ... like, OK. I think the only reason she lost weight is that she's been getting fewer calories. (To which Dr. B replied, Ya think???)

It certainly didn't take me that long (like only a week between first polygraph weight check and the one where Dr. B pulled the acknowledgement out of me) to realize that just maybe I needed to add back the missing feeding, and then figure out adding solids to her feedings.

Because I'm totally not that dense.

End of confession. Now for the request. There are 6 yrs between Mallorie and her brother who came before her, and I just don't remember these things. Heck. I was the whatever-it-will-all-work-out mom when it came to fitting in the solids, and I just don't think it was this hard to figure out. What are we doing wrong? Do other babies spit up sometimes when they are transitioning to solids? I remember being told to try small amounts of solids, and only one new food at a time, but was it really that hard getting to a fairly high percentage of solids per meal? I honestly don't remember. I do know I was the mom who (on principle, and I'll admit that) waited till seven months old before starting any solids .. because I was told to start at four months (by an antibreastfeeding doc), then surely/absolutely by 6 months ... :) But I simply don't remember all this gag/vomit/reflux, even with her refluxy brother.

So you parents of non-tubefed babies, did you have any struggles with the transition, and if so, what helped? Because what she is struggling with is getting to a normal (solid) foods diet. At least we know tubefeeding formula issues aren't part of the problem.

And you parents of children with tubes. Is this something typical of just having a tube? I'm having trouble seeing it that way, because with her, the bad problems came first after a long hospitalization, and then with the addition of certain foods. And they seem to go away when we identify and eliminate certain triggers (like we know she can't do milk or eggs right now).

But obviously, I'm in the dark here, and not sure about much of anything at all.