Roscoe is on strike. He will not eat when he is not with me. Monday he barely ate and screamed 2 hours straight at Liz's. Ray said Liz handed Roscoe to him as he opened the door, looking completely exhausted (Liz, that is; Roscoe was unfazed). Wednesday I had to leave work at 2pm because he had not eaten since 7am. He was actually happy, though, and Liz said nothing seemed wrong. He just refused to eat. Thursday Roscoe was with his Lala Friend and by noon she called saying we had to come get him because he was hungry and refused to eat. I was working on an audit at my client, so Ray had to leave work, drive down to San Mateo, pick him up, drive him to my work and then go back to work himself. Needless to say, we are pretty tired. Oh, and he also is sleeping even less than before *gasp* (i.e. wakes up EVERY HOUR crying for the past week, not just whimpering but full on scream-crying that requires soothing and sometimes even bouncing on the ball to calm him enough to eat...sigh). Obviously this new pattern is not sustainable (as if the old pattern was!). Nothing like a little regression to get you to appreciate how far you have come. :)
We thought it might be teething. Or maybe an ear infection. BUT IT'S WORSE. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and everything is fine physically. Which means it is psychological. Which means he won't eat because he is sad and doesn't want to be away from us. Ugh. My poor achy breaky heart. And to add insult to injury... we had given him Tylenol a couple of times this past week because he was screaming like he was in pain and we could not soothe him and we were sure it was teething or something... yeah, that Tylenol lot was just recalled.
So, big deep breath and self pep talk that in a few weeks this will all seem like ancient history and we will be on to the next thing. I know we will all be fine in the end, but the responsibility of making decisions knowing that they deeply affect another human being who happens to be helpless and unable to voice his own opinions... it sometimes feels like so much. Do we just starve him until he has no choice but to eat from the bottle? Do we cut down on the hours he is away from me and ease him into it? Do we give up and move to a commune seeking a "better way of life"?
And there really isn't an expert we can ask. All babies are different and no, it is not that he just wants a different type of bottle or nipple (the common suggestion). And no, Dr. Pediatrician, it is not because he is grumpy. Maybe we do have a "high needs" baby, but he is also "high reward" so everyone that pities us can just Suck It. Our little screaming monkey is worth every bit of it.
I don't want pity, I just want to know what to do and what is best for our family. But, no one knows Roscoe like we do and it is our job to take what we know about him and make the best decisions for HIM not just assume he is this unfeeling lump we can mold to our liking. (Apparently I had a lot to get off my chest this morning).
So, here are some suggestions that we might try: Ray is going to work on giving him bottles. We might have him "eat" milk from a spoon or sippy cup (apparently this is different enough for them to take it). We will consider starting him on some solids in a couple of weeks if he continues to show signs of readiness. I might start dropping him off later so he spends less time away until he feels more comfortable. I know some people would think we coddle him too much. But I am a softie and that's not going to change. If I have to leave the room every time an SPCA commercial comes on, I am never going to be the girl that can let her baby tough it out.
Like our pediatrician said, Most Babies are sleeping many hours at night now without eating, so if he goes 8 or 9 hours during the day it won't hurt him. He will just keep us both up at night stuffing himself for the next day, I suppose. One thing I learned from the pregnancy is that even though I had a mile long list of "symptoms," they were not all simultaneous. Just when you think you will lose your mind from one thing, another thing pops up and shifts your focus. Or, another more positive way of saying that is "God will never give you more than you can handle." So far in my life this has been true, so I am just rolling with it and seeing where we all end up.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment