Feeding Time

Well, over the past several days, I have been working on feeding Jordan according to the therapist's instructions. It's a lot of work!! I have used 2 separate containers to mix approx. 8 oz of her Pediasure with various thickeners (pudding, rice cereal, applesauce, yogurt) and then label them for the day. I was mixing it for each meal, but saw that my friend Tara Ronning had a great idea for Elliot's formula and realized it would be easier to make a bunch and pour it into the bottle/cup for each feeding. I have also thickened her stage 2 purees to approx. a pudding thickness if they are thin. Feeding her is still very time consuming and requires quite a bit of focus from me. I have realized that I don't like the open cup at all. Jordan has a tendency to lean her head forward, diving into it at the last second, and breathing in at the same time and usually ends up gulping it with a bunch of air - completely what she's not supposed to do!! I have found that although labor intensive, spoon feeding her liquids seems to be the best way to safely get them into her tummy.

I am getting more concerned about the quantity of liquids she is consuming on a daily basis. The past 2 days she has been right around 10 oz of Pediasure mixture for the entire day!! She was around 15 oz consistently for the past several weeks. This drop in quantity might be due to the fact we are now thickening it or that we switched to Pediasure. My primary concern is that she is probably borderline dehydrated most of the time. In fact, yesterday she only had to to have her diaper changed when she got up, once in the afternoon, and then again before bed. I know they wanted me to watch it closely with her and so I will see what happens today and discuss it at her therapy tomorrow.

Overall, Jordan still continues to "seem" fine. She is the happiest and most content baby EVER!!! I love to see her make small accomplishments - in the past week or so she started being able to hold a toy in one hand and pick up another in the other one. We have also worked on teaching her how to wave bye-bye. She is constantly banging 2 toys together now also. It is so much fun to work with her and see the joy it brings her to be able to do things! I am anticipating watching her continue to blossom as we move forward in her therapy.