feeding a 1 yr. old

Okay, I have to admit, feeding Weredesh is one of our least favorite activities around here. Aunt Chrissy can attest to this. And of course it's something we do often. For one, she's EXTREMELY picky about what she will and will not eat. And one day she'll like something, the next day forget it. And the rule is, NEVER try a new food on a full stomach or you'll end up wearing everything she just ate. Because if she doesn't like something, she doesn't just make a face, or turn her head. No, she'll completely vomit all over the place. Weird child. And not only is she picky - she eats PAINFULLY slow. And don't try speeding up the process, because again, she'll throw it all up. I'm usually the one guilty of making this happen. Daddy's a little more patient in this area, even though he hates it as much as I do. :) So, it usually takes her up to about half an hour for a meal. And even then, she's not eating a very large quantity of food. Which is why she's eating every 1.5 hours. Makes me wonder how much solid food she was actually getting at the orphanage, because I know they didn't have that kind of time or patience when it came to feeding hundreds of babies.

But she's getting much better at self-feeding. You could tell that she didn't self-feed at all before coming home to us. Was very uncoordinated with getting food to her mouth. Now she feeds herself cheese, crackers, Gerber puffs, Cheerios, etc. That is, if you can keep her from throwing them on the floor. You can only put one or two bites on her tray or she'll clear the whole thing and send it flying across the kitchen.

I think she's just super bored with the whole eating process - there's just nothing fun about being strapped in a high chair when there's so many drawers and cabinets to empty around the house! (The orphanage wasn't kidding when they wrote that Weredesh is an "active" infant.) So if you can get her REALLY involved with a cool kitchen utensil, box, or just feed her while she's walking around, there's a much better chance of getting some food in her. Singing and dancing also work well. And of course she wants whatever mommy and daddy are eating at the moment, although if you sat her down with the same food to feed it to her, she wouldn't have it. And no chance of getting the glasses to stay on during meals. Can you say difficult? EEK!!!

So tonight we're going to attempt to cut her off of her nighttime feedings cold turkey. We think she's ready. This might help her eat more during the day as well. Typically she'll wake up in the middle of the night and drink a bottle, and since Cory and I have the week off for Spring Break, we thought this might be a good time to work on this. Could make for some rough nights, but since we don't have to go to work the next day it will be much more tolerable. We're not planning on letting her "cry it out." There's no way we could do this to her, considering what she's been through. But rather getting her back to sleep without her bottle. Teaching her that there's no reason to wake up - that food no longer comes in the middle of the night. When we first took her from the orphanage, they had been feeding her formula at midnight and we chose to stop it right away. She did just fine for a couple of weeks and slept through the entire night. But then a few weeks went by and she started waking up in the night demanding food. Of course she was going through major growth spurts so that was understandable. Now that she's well-adjusted and starting to chunk up, we feel it's time.

Wish us luck! And if you happen to wake up at 2 in the morning, think of us! ;)