As Stella’s occupational therapist put it, “Stella has internalized the joy of eating.”
Her feeding aversion is, well, history. A memory. Though not a distant memory, of course. We still get nervous if she goes for a long stretch without eating. We still watch her eating behavior like mama and papa hawks, and breathe a sigh [...]
Entries from January 2009
January 29, 2009
Days 22 through 25: Stella got her groove back
January 25, 2009
Days 18, 19 and 20: Stella turns a corner!
I love Christmas. A tree is a must, of course. In fact, a Christmas tree really has to be at least six feet tall for it to feel right to me. I’ve been collecting ornaments for years and love every one of them. Now that we live in a house, I wanted to decorate the porch with lights so [...]
January 22, 2009
Days 16 and 17: Sweet, sweet progress!
Today, Stella had 700 mls, which makes it a great day. It’s all part of her overall upward trend in bottle feeding.
I’m excited report is that Stella is no longer swaddled. At all. She is not swaddled when she sleeps, nor when she eats! This is huge! She seems more able to calm herself, which is an [...]
January 21, 2009
A Little, Hopeful Update
Yesterday, she wound up at 600 mls or a bit more (up from the 530 that I’d stated). For her last feeding of the night, at 11:30pm, I was able to feed her while sitting in bed in the dark, and she was unswaddled, holding my hand. She calmly finished what was left in the [...]
January 20, 2009
Day 15: Ugh.
Today was tough. It’s almost 11pm and her tally is 530mls. She is resisting the bottle. She’ll act like she wants to eat, latch onto the bottle, then quickly pull away from it, and repeat that sequence several times until we give up. We have to honor her choice when she says, “no.”
She is still [...]
January 19, 2009
Day 14: Manic Monday
Stella has been free from the tube for two weeks as of today. Clearly, she’s made fantastic progress. Yesterday, she showed us that she can do it. We now believe that it’s just a matter of time before that level of intake becomes the norm for her.
HOWEVER. Today was a bit of a struggle. She [...]
January 18, 2009
This just in
She just ate 75 more mls. The new total, and record, is about 850 mls!
This is MORE than she EVER had in a single day with the tube.
Stella is amazing!
January 18, 2009
Days 12 and 13: A big meltdown. A bigger milestone.
I am an incredibly emotional and sensitive person. After reflecting on this and how it relates to my new role, I said to my own mom, while she was here to offer desperately needed support for almost three weeks when Stella’s tube was put in, “Motherhood will either break me, or make me incredibly strong.” [...]
January 16, 2009
Tube-free Stella: Days 9, 10 and 11
Stella is doing well. She is teething, however, which is throwing us all for a drool-covered loop. I can feel the bumps, the beginnings of teeth, in her gums. She cries with a bit more intensity and more often, gnaws on Sophie like she’s made of candy, and while she is still her usual energetic [...]
