OT: Week 17, Sippy Lid

This last week has been about the same as far as feeding is concerned. Frances had mentioned on Thursday that I should try skipping a feed some time soon to see if Averi acted hungry or if she would take a whole feed orally if her stomach was emptier. I have been waiting to do this because I changed her feeding schedule last week in trying to get rid of the night time feed/strangulation hazard.

Yesterday Averi took a longer nap so I tried feeding her an hour late. She took the first two bottles (each bottle is 30 mls) and wasn’t crying yet so I decided to try for #3. After that she was more than half way so I pushed her to eat some more.

It took over an hour but she was able to drink a whole feed of 5 bottles (plus thickener and added baby food). It was only once, but at least we know now that she can do it!
(This is my latest solution for keeping her mess to a minimum. It only worked until she grabbed the bottom of the bib and rubbed it all over her face.)

We also started adding whole milk (25%) into her feeds last night. She has done alright with the yogurt and we are quickly running out of breastmilk so I thought I”d give it a try. I’m not getting my hopes up but it would really be nice if the dairy allergy was gone.

Today Frances tried putting some thickened milk in a sippy cup lid and feeding it to Averi (the milk not the lid). She did alright with it and got several swallows down when she wasn’t preoccupied with chewing on the lid.

We then switched over to the bottle and she drank 3 bottles before literally falling asleep in my arms. I’d say it was a decent day (I better stop saying that because trouble is bound to be lurking around the corner).

Next time we are going to try using a bottle with a wider base in hopes of keeping Averi’s fingers away from her mouth. She spends half her feeds trying to get her thumb into her mouth and usually ends up wrapping her hand around the nipple while she’s drinking.