a small step toward foodie-dom

Our GI NP, Ginny, said GFI! We are making nearly all the changes the pediatrician suggested.

First things first, I had butter on my bread last night. It was divine.

I also learned today that the formula our NICU docs apparently told everyone to stay on until the first birthday because preemies need it for their brains, well, I guess we’ve been off it for some time now. Woopsies. Ginny was not at all concerned. I suppose we came off it because of Calder’s digestive issues, who knows. It’s easy to get confused when you’ve got multiple medical issues you’re tracking but short story, I’m going to forgive myself and bet his brain will be just fine.

And last night Calder had sweet potatoes. By the look on his face you’d think we were feeding him worms! Clearly, this was NOT the steak juice Kraemer had let him lick from his finger a few weeks back, when his eyes popped open like a Jack-in-the-Box.

apples taste best served on giraffes

Today we saw Anne for speech, who walked us through initiating solids. For the most part, I think we approach them just as you would with a healthy term baby. But Calder does have some oral aversions, so we expect it to be a little bit more of a challenge; in other words, the pucker-face wasn’t much of a surprise. She told us that with most babies, they tell you to try foods 16 times before giving up on it, and that in Calder’s case, his distaste likely has more to do with the texture than the taste. We propped Calder in the hospital’s highchair and then Anne approached the situation in a way I would never have dreamed of doing: the messier the better (and of course, I had forgotten a bib.) The moment she plopped a couple scoops of apple in front of him Calder was all over that business, spreading it all over the tray, smooshing it to his cheeks, slapping it on his forehead and absolutely getting it all over his sleeves. I had handed him his favorite mini-Sophie chew toy, which Anne said was perfect for achieving our end result of letting him put the food in his mouth on his own, letting him control entry.

We are adding a flush schedule to his G-tube feeds, as was recommended, though we hope those feeds will start becoming less and less frequent.