An update on my fussy eater

I really loved all the advice we received and I do believe she'll grow out of a lot of it and I also think a lot of it is Kendra-ness :)

But I started keeping track of the teats (nipples) we were using for Kendra's bottles to see if I could pick up trends. We only noticed that she likes a really hard teat (like Nuk). Other than that, not much difference.

Her paed switched her to a lactose-free formula about 3 weeks ago. There was no change after the tin was done (about 4 days) so we switched back. The paed mentioned one other formula we could try but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Then Mandy commented and mentioned silent reflux. I didn't think it was this but I googled it anyway. Some South African moms were talking about this on a message board and someone mentioned the exact same formula the paed mentioned (Novalac). I filed that away mentally.

On Thursday, just after the day nanny left and we were in suicide hour, I was feeding Kendra who was screaming and looking very upset. Suddenly I thought, what's the harm in trying this new formula? So I sent D an SMS and told him to try a pharmacy (I'd previously tried 3 baby shops) and lo and behold, he found it!

Well, he arrived with it, I dumped K with him and mixed her up a bottle immediately. She had 100ml (this is a miracle - at best only 60 ml before). She ate really well that night and has been eating better, on the whole since then. D says she's still Kendra and still has issues :) so everything is not miraculously solved but we can definitely see an improvement.

So we've abandoned the old formula totally and I went to buy 3 more cans of this more expensive formula yesterday.

She still fusses while eating but it's not as bad as before - now she'll have about 25ml (not 5 sucks) before fussing, we burp, cuddle, change nappy if necessary, then continue... She's taking about 60 ml consistently at a time, especially if we wait 3 hours between feeds

She's also sleeping better - of course, that could be her age (12 weeks) since she started displaying signs of better sleep last weekend...

Our current Kendra goal is still to have her finish her entire 75ml feed every 3 hours (600 ml a day). I keep threatening to send her back to NICU so the nurses can set her straight again :)

Strange - the last couple of days Connor hasn't been eating as well as he normally does. It's not so bad that I need to be concerned though because usually he eats far more than he needs (I wonder where he gets that...)

I feel like I'm conducting experiments with these kids - every couple of days I change the rules and announce to the nanny, "okay, from today, we're doing things like this and not like this".

This mothering thing is teaching me flexibility and adaptability, big time! And of course, plenty of patience!


What is this journey to motherhood, or motherhood itself, teaching you?

P.S. Don't forget about the giveaway :)