Window of Opportunity

The ped recommended we feed Eric solids when he gets hungry (which is every 4 hours) and THEN give him his bottle. The usual way of giving him a bottle when he's starving and then solids about an hour or so later hasn't worked so well. He's gaining weight, but not finishing his solids. I think we would go through MAYBE 2 jars a day if we were lucky. So I began giving him solids first for lunch and dinner along with a 6 ounce bottle.

This worked well yesterday, but today for lunch he freaked out that he wasn't getting his bottle. Like a good, trained ex-teacher I refused to give in and made him finish his solids before he chugged the 6 ounces (and he did chug the 6 ounces). Of course he managed to get pureed beef, corn, and veggie all over himself and me during his tantrum, but I'm proud of not giving in. I just really hope that this doesn't become a daily thing, or I may throw a tantrum myself.

The problem I'm now finding with feeding Eric this way is that by his second nap, usually around 3pm, he is a little hungry. So, do you put him down so that he wakes up hungry and ready to eat solids without a fight? Or do you give him a little bit of a bottle and wait until he's hungry again after he wakes up before giving him solids? I tried the former yesterday. He didn't nap well. So today I tried the second option. He was very tired- he hadn't slept in 3 hours. I gave him 5 ounces. He drained the bottle in less than 3 minutes and started crying for more. [grrr] SO... I caried him downstairs and made another 3 ounces while holding him (The reason being I really thought I might go crazy if I put him in his playpen and had to listen to him scream while I was making the bottle). I have to say that holding Eric at all anymore is starting to hurt my back. I've only gained 10 pounds so far in this pregnancy (almost 17 weeks now), but my God that kid weighs a ton!

Anyway, I digress... So I took the newly made 3 ounces and baby and went back to the nursery. He finished it very quickly. I rocked him and prayed he would go to sleep. But as any parent will tell you (and I'm finding out much to my dismay) there is a window of opportunity for naps. Put a child down too early and they toss and turn, sleeping for only 30 minutes or so. Eric did that yesderday. Put a child down too late, and they get giddy and can't sleep.

After drinking the bottle, Eric started to get a little giddy and wanted to crawl. I let him into my bedroom and read a few books to him. He loves turning the pages. A little too much, unfortunately. I've had to ad-lib a lot of the book because he'll gleefully turn the pages before the first line of the page is out of my mouth. After ten minutes of reading, I got what every tired mother longs to hear from her child- a yawn! I put him back down. He fussed for a few minutes, but now seems to be asleep, thank God! I swear if feeding him solids and a bottle screws with his nap schedule, I'm going back to the old way of feeding. Mommy NEEDS a break!