All About Food

Jack has started solids and he seems very uninterested. At first, he seemed to really like carrots and peaches, but now, eating is just too much of a chore for him.

He usually takes a couple of bites but then starts to fuss. I refuse to feed him if he's fussing because I don't want to get into a bad habit of force-feeding him. Everything I have read says that if you do that, you set them up for disliking meal time among other problems.

Maybe it's his highchair? Maybe he is just slower to like foods then other babies? Whatever it is, I am trying not to be frustrated. I don't let on that I am getting overwhelmed. He gets his pill mixed in during meal time so I need to get him to at least take a couple of bites. If he doesn't get his pill, he's pretty miserable.

One night, he ate the peaches with gusto, but yet the next, he threw up as soon as the peaches touched his lips. I thought every baby liked bananas, but yet Jack gags if he gets them. He doesn't like rice cereal and only eats oatmeal if something else is mixed in with it (usually peaches). I have even tried giving him finger food of fruit and he is not interested.

I really want him to enjoy mealtimes. God knows both his dad and I love to eat.

Now about the other food: Breastmilk. You may have read my previous posts about quitting pumping and going to formula. By last Sunday, I was down to four pumps a day (from five). I noticed right away that my supply took a huge dip so I thought, "Oh good, my body is realizing it's time to stop".

Come Monday, I started having huge anxiety about pumping. HUGE! I realized that I don't want to quit. I like knowing that I am taking care of my baby's nutritional needs. I am cheap. I don't want to buy formula. I will still have to supplement because my supply isn't great. Jack still needs about 8 ounces of formula a day.

Here I am whining and complaining about pumping and lugging bottles to work and lugging my pump and all the dishes. I guess feeding my baby is more important than my inconvenience.

Stupid right? But I am happy with my decision (again). I am going to continue pumping as long as I can. My supply is very low, probably because my body wasn't used to the 4 pumps a day. I am back up to 5 now and might eventually go back up to 6 if I can swing a 5:30 pump like I used to.

I wish I wasn't so wishy-washy about making major decisions like this. I was all set to quit, and now I am not. Next week when I want to change my mind again, will someone kindly slap some sense into me? Thank you kindly.