Up and Down

So my mom had been bugging me to make a doctor's appointment for Wee One.  We've been worried about her eating habits.  Daycare had finally gotten her eating baby food on a good schedule - one day she ate four whole jars of baby food in one day!  But then she turned One and isn't supposed to be eating purees anymore.  And she doesn't eat much of anything else.

I posted this on a discussion board several months ago.  That was before she had teeth.  Once her front four came in, I was better about my anxiety.  But now I'm back to worrying.  Sometimes she takes a few bites and then refuses to eat more.  I thought maybe it was teething, so I'd put ora-jel on.  Didn't make much difference.  Sometimes she eats pretty well.  So it's just inconsistent enough to be confusing.

Then my mom got a grandparents mailing from Gerber.  I would so love to join the Nestle boycott, except that we have cabinets full of Gerber baby food because That Is All She Eats.  So the propaganda mailing from Gerber tells us she should be eating 6 jars of food a day.  And we flip out.

I thought the doctor would laugh at us, tell us she's just a picky eater, and shake his head as he ushered us out the door.  Fortunately he spent quite a bit of time with us, asking specific questions and looking at her care sheets from daycare that I brought.  Unfortunately, he then said it may be a sensory issue with feeding textures, or a oral-motor issue since she also tends to choke, and also doesn't have many words.  (She jabbers all the time, but only has mama and a few others as actual "words".)

And I'm SO trying not to worry.  But when the doctor says "autism" in an appointment, even if he's saying he Doesn't Think we should consider that for her, then it's scary.  I know very little about sensory processing issues, but I have read stories about how challenging it can be for parents to help their children cope. 

He gave us some ideas about how to transition her to Stage 3 and table foods.  And we are not supposed to feed her purees anymore at all, to basically force her to eat the table food.  We are supposed to encourage her to pick up the food and self-feed.  We are supposed to keep track of the times that she chokes.  And in 6 weeks at her 15 month appointment, he may recommend an occupational therapist if she still doesn't have alot of words and she still chokes alot when eating.

Meanwhile, sleeping is going fantastically well.  For her morning nap, we nursed, then she was done and sat up.  I took her in and put her in her crib, and I laid down nearby.  She cruised around her crib, then fussed a little, then laid down and went to sleep.  After about half an hour she fussed and sat up, and I just laid her down and patted her back and she went back to sleep.  Nap total - 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Tonight for bed, we nursed in her room.  I've then been taking her into my bed and letting her wiggle and worm her way to sleep.  Tonight she was very sleepy when nursing, so I thought I'd give her bed a try.  She let me put her down in her bed, then she just moved around a little and then went to sleep.

Yup, you read that right.  She went to sleep in her bed.  For the second time today.

I am about to go to bed in my bed all by myself.  Hooray!