TMI Tuesday: Hungry Baby

The whole back and forth during meal time is something that we expected to encounter with our some but we were happily unaware of many of the factors that come into play during these parts of our daily routine. Our son can be fickle at times when it comes to what he wants to eat. Sometimes he doesn’t like the taste of something while other time he simply prefers having something else, something he knows he likes better than what is being offered. It is a back and forth at times but something that we remain cognizant of as we don’t want his pickiness to persist.

However, lately there has been a different issue that has arisen during meal times that has him turning his nose up at certain foods being offered. There actually three reasons that we have discovered for his disagreement actually. The first is that he has so many teeth coming in that there are some foods that do not agree with swollen gums and new oral protrusions. The texture has to be just right at times. The second sometimes relates to the first as he is now preferring larger pieces of food… too small and he will sometimes refuse to eat, too big and we are cleaning up more than pieces dropped on the floor. Too hot or cold will also result in the same kind of reaction. I guess you could call all of these things contributing factors to the Goldilocks conundrum.  

When all of these things are at play at the same time it can make for quite the difficult meal and usually ends with various pieces of edible confetti strewn about the kitchen floor. Other times everything goes as ‘planned’ or at least pretty close and he stuffs his face like he is late for a meeting or something. The latter is particularly funny when we give him a whole cereal bar and he proceeds to devour it just as fast if not faster than most adults.

Overall, we have learned to not get in the way of a hungry baby as there is a possibility that you might lose a finger in the process. Mmmmm, meaty! In fact, we try to give him his space once we put food on his tray as there are times when he won’t eat if someone is watching him. This works out for us as we can either get a few things done in the kitchen or, gasp, eat dinner at the same time. After all, that is the goal that we are working toward as we want this to be a time spent with family around the dinner table.

TMI Tuesday: Your Dinner Looks Really Good Daddy!

My usual routine at the end of each day is that when I get home I make sure to spend time with our son, play with him, and put him to bed before my wife and I sit down to eat dinner. It may not be the best solution but at this point it is what works and it allows me to spend some time with our baby before having to prep and cook. However, there are times when I get home a little earlier than usual or dinner is particularly quick to pull together and we end up eating immediately after our son finishes his food.

As we are eating we can’t help but get the feeling that we are being stared at with every bite. Sure enough, when we look over we see our son watching the food as it travels from the plate to our mouth. This of course is accompanied by copious amounts of drool (more than what his teething usually produces) as well as a smacking of his lips about every other bit. This has been the same routine for months even back to when he couldn’t sit up on his own.

Lately, he has taken things to an entirely new level as he really wants to taste what we are eating. At least once during the course of our dinner he will give a little screech and babble something that we are supposed to understand given the expression on his face. Most likely it is probably something along the lines of “Your dinner looks really good Daddy. How about you give me a little taste of whatever it is that you are eating?” He will go on to repeat the babble which is usually concluded by a short burst of yelling when we don’t comply.

Thankfully, he is now able to feed himself some small puffs so we usually put some on his tray when we sit down at the table with our plates. This has been much more effective than the small rotation of toys that quickly lose their ability to calm him when food is present. We have also introduced tiny pieces of banana which the three of us are able to share… baby really like when we are all enjoying the same thing. At the same time, we are slowly introducing him to new foods and broadening his palate so that, one day, hopefully he will like what he tastes when mommy and daddy are able to give him a bite of their food.

TMI Tuesday: I’ll Bite Your Finger!

Over the past few weeks our son has been going back and forth between the kind and loving baby that likes laughing and smiling to one that needs to snuggle with his mommy and daddy while a look of pain and fear crossed his face. The later usually coincides with nearly his entire hand shoved in his mouth mere millimeters away from making himself throw up (sometimes he does go too far). We are now in the midst of the teething period when there is little that we can do besides keeping things pressed against his gums and trying to make sure the resulting congestion is cleared away especially during the night.

Most of the time a binkie will suffice but there are moments when there isn’t enough pressure and either a cold rolled wash cloth or a knuckle are what he needs to munch on for a few minutes. Even with his teeth slowly protruding further from his gums it doesn’t hurt (my wife disagrees with this point) and he is rather entertained by the fact (sometimes) that he is biting daddy. It is hard to watch when he realizes he is in pain and all we want to do is make it go away. In the end there is little that we can do but the things above and the occasional dose of Tylenol… whiskey might have to be next or a Manischewitz lollipop (which did wonders in the past). After all, it would be watered down by all the drool anyway.  

Since he now has a couple of teeth that have come in and a couple more trying to break through, we have also added brushing his nubs to the morning and bedtime routines. This is something that is still a little odd for all involved and definitely an activity that our son does not enjoy. But we are all slowly getting used to it and his reaction could be worse like when we try to clip his fingernails… that is a scream I could have lived a full life without hearing.  

Also adding to the misery is the constant ebb and flow of various viruses that he either picks up from other babies or things that mommy and daddy happen to carry home from work. All of these things combine to make sleeping a crap shoot and our evenings a test of both patience and endurance. But even when he has those bad days or nights he knows that mommy and daddy are right there to help him and that is really what is important during this time in his life.