Maya Starts Solids!

Day 1 – October 7, 2007

I have somehow forgotten how to start a baby on solids. It seems like ages since I transitioned Jayden. I finally decide to start with two ounces of milk and two tablespoons of cereal. I mixed it up and put Maya in the highchair. Jayden looks at me like I’m crazy. He actually starts to whine. How dare me put Maya in his chair. Oh well. Get over it Jayden. I’m desperately trying to spoon feed Maya who is spitting out more than she’s taking in. It’s like I’m willing her to open her mouth with my facial expressions and Jayden is saying “Open Maya!” over and over again. She’s making her special little raspberry sounds and getting cereal everywhere and Jayden is mimicking her. So of course, she continues. The spoon seemed so little and the bowl seemed so big. I felt like it might take me forever to accomplish this task. I finally finished but honestly, I sincerely doubt that she got any into her mouth. At the end, I thought to myself, “Can I just nurse her forever?” To top it all off, she woke up like clockwork at 2am to nurse so my hopes of her sleeping through the night went down the tubes.

Day 2 – October 8, 2007

Tonight, I decide to go with two ounces of milk and three tablespoons of cereal. It was much better, thicker. I can honestly say there was an improvement. She liked the consistency and was smacking her lips. I would guess that she had a good 50% of what I fed her, but then she got cranky so I stopped and finished the meal by nursing her. She fell asleep around 8pm. Then she woke up again around 9pm. What happened? I nurse her again and she falls asleep. Then she wakes up again at 11pm? What’s going on here? I wanted her to sleep through the night. I didn’t mean for her to wake up more often! I actually fell asleep nursing her and didn’t wake up until Esteban came home from work. He put her to bed and she slept all night. She didn’t wake until 5am. Wow! I forgot what it was like to sleep at night. I hope this wasn’t a one time thing.

Day 3 – October 9, 2007

Tonight, I stuck with the same measurements at the night before. This time I was going to try not to get too much of Maya’s saliva into the bowl so that the cereal doesn’t get runny. She opened her mouth for the spoon and I could hear her swallow so I was encouraged. She was laughing and carrying on and being super cute. About 5-10 minutes into the feeding, I lost her interest. And I don’t know what happened, but the mixture ended up going from thick to runny again. She was starting to get cranky and I didn’t want to push it so I decided to stop. I don’t know if she got tired or full, but at least she ate quite a bit of it. Afterwards, I had to run to bathe Jayden and she was crying, but when I came back to check on her, she was asleep. At 10pm, I nursed her and she slept until 4am. Not bad.

Day 4 – October 10, 2007

Tonight, I decided to increase the cereal to 4 tablespoons. It was super stiff, but after a few minutes, it became thinner. Maya took less in though. Maybe it was because the consistency was thicker, but I only got her to take about 25% of it. She fell asleep soon after just before 8pm. At 10pm, I nursed her to sleep, but she had a relapse. She was up at 3:30am and then again at 4:45am. Ugh! What is going on here?

Day 5 – October 11, 2007

Ok, I tried to spoon feed her again and she wasn’t interested in it at all. If probably took two bites, at most. Then, I begin to wonder if maybe she’s just not hungry enough. So, I wait. About an hour or so later, I try again. No luck. So now even though they recommend you don’t do this, I take the cereal and thin it out with 2 oz of milk. I put it in a sippie cup and I give it to her. She gnawed on the nipple for a while, drank/spilt about half of it and left the rest. Oh brother. Now she’s tired and cranky and crying in that “I just want to be nursed” tone. What could I do? I nursed her to sleep. Jayden took to the spoon so easily. I can’t understand what the problem could be. And then relapse! She woke up shortly past midnight, and again at 3:30 and then at 6:30!

Day 6 – October 12, 2007

Ok, what I really want to do is just forget all about cereal and spoons and bowls. I’m looking at Maya and dreading 7:30pm, which is when I’ve been doing her feedings. She’s starting to get cranky and before you know it, she’s hungry so I drag myself to the kitchen and decide to mix one ounce of milk with 2 tablespoons of cereal. She’s now screaming her little head off, tears and everything. I think I’m in more pain and agony than she is. I start to feed her and she actually eats the cereal. Of course, she’s sucking on the spoon as if it were a nipple and the bowl was completely empty with very little spillage. Too bad I didn’t mix more cereal. Afterwards, I nursed her but she didn’t fall asleep. I don’t know what she’s waiting for. And when she did fall asleep, it wasn’t for long cause she woke up in the middle of the night for her feeding.

Day 7 – October 13, 2007

Ok, tonight I feel more confident and mix the usual 2 ounces of milk with 4 tablespoons of cereal. No deal. She took 2 or 3 spoonfuls and stopped. Then she got cranky while I continued to try and finally she started wailing! Ugh. How could this be so hard? I finally gave up (which I didn’t want to as hard-headed as I am) and nursed her. She fell asleep instantly. Of course, she woke up when her daddy came home and I was so tired I have no idea what happened after that. Maybe she was latched on for the rest of the night. Who knows? When I woke up, there she was being all hungry, wiggling her hands and legs and trying to reach out for me with her mouth. Oh goodness!