Tue 20 Jun 2006
A Hunger Strike?
Posted by Liza under The Real Live Boy
Yesterday, Noah had a rough day at school.
They know that he can hold his bottle, but apparently, he prefers to have it held for him. Yesterday, every time they gave it to him, he agreed to hold it for a couple of minutes, but then would catch the eye of one of the teachers, and fling it away, refusing to eat again unless they were holding him.
As a result, he ate about 2/3 of his usual amount. At least, while he was at school. He also napped around half or 2/3 his usual amount at school, which is already only half what he should be napping and will nap on the weekend.
Hungry and exhausted, he ate like a maniac when I got home, and tried to fall asleep for the night at 6 pm. We let him nap for 20 minutes, but didn’t want him waking up at 3 am, so got him up and made him play with us until shortly after 7, when we mean mommies also bathed him.
Aside: We’re in a bath quandry. He’s outgrown his infant kitchen-sink tub. But the Ikea infant tub is too big; I don’t feel like I can hold him in it safely. The tub-seat also seems too big — he needs to be more able to sit himself before I think it will work. And unlike Mickey (more like Kat), I was unable to get the bumbo seat to suction in place in the tub. Yesterday we tried the kitchen sink, no frills, and he screamed and cried. I think the drain-stop must be uncomfortable on his little bottom. Do you have a bath solution you like?
Anyway, by 7:30 pm, Noah was pissed off, but clean, and he ate again like a starving boy. He also fell asleep long before he was done eating — we call it "sleating." He woke up hungry again at 10:40 pm, 2:20 am, and 3:30 am. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t that hungry when he woke up for the day at 6:25 am.
I didn’t give him his usual "top off" feeding at 7:15-7:30 am, before taking him to school, on the hope that today he’ll agree to hold his bottle and eat. And Miss Lorraine asked us to try working with him to eat while holding the bottle, so I may start doing another pumping at home. He’s got to be able to eat from people besides me.
Wish us luck with all of this.
June 20th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Julia does the same thing. She’s perfectly capable of holding her bottle herself. But she doesn’t like to do it. Will refuse to eat if it comes down to the wire. She has no problem pretending to eat from an empty bottle, but real eating from a real bottle? She’d prefer to throw it, thank you very much. She can drink from a straw so we thought she’d be happy holding a straw sippy cup (no need to tip it up or lay down to eat) but no go. She’s determined that she will be comforted and bonded with while eating. Let me know what works for you.
About the bathing. Have you tried a towel at the bottom of the sink to cushion it, or one of those mats for washing fine china? What about taking him into the shower with you? Or, what we did for Julia, lay him flat in the big tub with only an inch or two of water in it then you only have to sit him up for a moment while washing his hair.
June 20th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Try the Promi Eurobath. It’s awesome for newbors and babies who can sit with or without assistance!
June 20th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
We had that tub seat and we loved it. Before he could actually sit up, we pur this huge baby sized sponge mat in it, and then it cushioned him and held him in place. We found the spongee thing at walmart. It is supposed to be used when the baby is little and you lay them in the bath on it. Also it sucks that he isn’t doing too well at his day care. I provide day care, and I never have any problems like that. Hopefully he gets the hang of things soon.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I wish we could send him to you, Merrilee — but you’re a little far away!
June 20th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
I agree about trying the shower. The bathtub always bothered me because they’d pee or poop in it and then I’d freak out, have to pull the baby out, clean out the tub and then refill it, all while the baby shivered. We just took the baby in the shower with us (using a hand towel on the back for more grip). It’s so fast and easy to do it this way. At first, we’d both get in and do it but soon got to the point where one of us would get in, the other would pass the baby in. The one in the shower cleaned, then passed the baby out to the other who dried and dressed. It also got to the point where it was pretty easy to do it by yourself.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Since Henry is still so little, we are still able to use the infant kitchen sink bathtub. But when we’re at his Grandma’s, she uses that spongee thing Merilee recommended. And he LOVES it, we think it’s because you fill the sink with warm water and he can float in it.
Henry (and Mommy and Daddy) love Grandma bath time!
June 20th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
I definitely recommend the Primo Eurobath. We tried so many bathtubs when Caden was little and this is the one that we ended up using for over a year. You can get it at Babies r us. GOod luck!
June 21st, 2006 at 9:44 am
I saw a tub seat recently at Babies R Us. Want me to pick one up for you at my lunch hour?
Also, at Noah’s age my babies also seemed to want to go to bed at 6-7 PM. So I finally let them. It didn’t change their waking in the night patterns, although I was a BIG FAN of the 10PM “dream feed.” I would nurse Mini and J would give Jr. a bottle while they slept. It worked for us, at least. Esp. cause Jr’s reflux was so bad he didn’t “eat/drink” much or KEEP DOWN what he ate very often.
Gosh, Jr. couldn’t hold his own bottle till well after 6 months, and then wouldn’t till after one year. But I am starting to suspect mine are a bit spoiled.
He is reverse cycling. Mini used to eat for TWO HOURS when I got home from work. This too shall pass, I promise.
June 21st, 2006 at 11:49 am
You’re sweet to offer, Kat, but we picked one up at Burlington Coat Factory a couple of weeks ago, which is how I know that the tub seat is just too advanced for Noah’s sitting skills.
I’m thinking about the Primo tub people keep recommending — if you happen to be going to B-R-U and see that, I would ***love*** it, otherwise, I’ll probably order it online.