Hi all,
I'm new here -- my DD is 10 months old, has been EBF with no issues since birth, and since she turned 6 months I've been trying to introduce her to various solids. She has a chromosomal abnormality (balanced translocation of chromosomes 6p and 12p, with a duplication of 6p24), and thus in large part has been developmentally delayed. It's really only been a few days since she's been able to sit on the floor unassisted for more than a few minutes, and she's not doing the pincer grasping yet. I've been okay with taking solids slow with her up until recently -- she's been waking up three times at night to nurse, up from her usual twice a night, since she turned 10 months. My mom assumes it's because she's so hungry, but she's a very healthy, chunky baby. I feel like I'm going to go nuts if I don't get some time to myself and more sleep; she's never taken a bottle, doesn't know what to do with it if one is offered and still wants to nurse every 3-4 hours around the clock. I feel like maybe my timing is not great, sometimes I don't wait long enough to feed her solids or other times I wait too long and she's fussy and only wants to nurse.
She's in the Infants and Toddler program in our county and we have an O/T who is also a feeding specialist, who comes to work with her on motor skills and feeding at our home twice a month...we've had three sessions and so far no improvement in feeding. I tried to do BLW off and on -- she likes to pick up finger sized food sometimes but then once she brings it to her mouth she lets go, or she bites off more than she can chew and gags to the point of vomiting. She can still only manage even purees or a liquidy porridge consistencies.
When I spoonfeed her, she bites the spoon a lot and more often than not the food drools out of her mouth after accepting only a few spoonfuls, even if she's happy and alert. I've tried mashed banana, applesauce, peas, beef stew and various fruit combinations and lightly boiled egg yolk. Yesterday evening at the request of my mother I relented and fed her some brown rice baby cereal, which she liked for several spoonfuls then got too fussy so I nursed her to sleep. She only woke up once last night to nurse after that cereal feeding. I guess I'm wondering if I'm on the right track or if I need to actually offer solids more often than nursing -- she won't eat any solids if I BF beforehand, so I've been trying to do the opposite.
I appreciate any advice!
Thanks,
Cathy