Eating

The following may be more information than you want to hear. So if babies don't interest you then you might want to skip reading all this. I just felt like putting all this into words because of all the difficulties I've been through. Babies are not easy. Some are harder than others. I hope Jovie falls into this category and that Finn (we're having a boy next...I asked Kell and he said yes... so in a year maybe) is an easier baby. But let me just say before you read this that Jovie is worth every struggle she will ever give us and I do not love her any less because of it. She has brought Kell and I more joy than is imaginable. I'm tearing up just writing about it. Just one smile from that girl can melt away months of screaming, crying, pooping, and spitting up all over everything. That being said, here's my story...

Before I had Jovie I read a lot about babies. I'm talking like all day. I probably visited babycenter.com about 15 times a day. I read everything I could. So when it came to learning about feeding Jovie I didn't think it would be that hard. I'd done my research. Painful at first maybe, but nothing I couldn't handle. Well, sometimes things don't work out like you think. For most people it's no big deal. But not me.

To begin with she had tongue-tie. That's when the skin(or whatever you call that) that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth is very tight so that your tongue can't move very much. This makes it much harder for her to eat well. We won't go into detail on that one. Not fun. So they clipped that part under her tongue but only time could make things better in this category.

Once two weeks hit she stopped sleeping. I would do everything I could to try to get her to sleep. Nothing seemed to work. So she would scream and cry all day, probably from being so tired. ALL DAY. Our only options was walking around with her. And a lot of the time that wouldn't work. She had to be bounced...high. Thanks goodness for Kell's man arms because I couldn't do it as long as him. Sooooo, due to being so tired when she would eat she would fall asleep. (Unfortunately this was the only time I didn't want her to sleep) And she was a slow eater. So when she would eat it would take forever. Usually over an hour. On average an hour and a half. And in case you're wondering you're supposed to feed babies every three hours or so. So this would only give me very little free time in between. But could I do anything with this free time? No. Why, because Jovie was once again screaming and had to be bounced. I could do nothing for myself.

Eventually, thanks to the amazing video The Happiest Baby on the Block (very cheesy & very highly recommended) we were able to get her to take naps. They would only last about 40 minutes. She just couldn't stay asleep. This isn't long enough for a baby to get the real rest they need. But it helped a lot. Much less crying. (Side note...She now sleeps on her tummy. I don't care what the doctors say. She's strong and if it works better for her then so be it. She now takes 2 hour naps.)

Then at three months just after things felt like they were "normal" Jovie started crying, and screaming, and arching her back when she would eat. She was suddenly eating half as much as she used to. I searched for answers. And searched. And searched. No one in my family could tell me what was going on. So I just tried to do everything I could to keep her calm and eating enough. Over and over I resigned to feeding her with a bottle. (Luckily she would take a bottle. We had to give her one when she was 6 days old for a couple days because there were too many complications) This meant pumping every time she wanted to eat. I would not give in to formula because I knew it wasn't as good for her.

This would happen every time. If I was lucky she would eat best right before bed because she was extra tired. This was more exhausting than I can put into words. And more frustrating too. There were many times where I just lost it. It shouldn't be like that right? It just couldn't be normal.

When we took her to the doctor they just said it was because she was getting over an ear infection. No. It was worse than they were thinking. But try explaining that to them.

Time went on and things didn't really get better. She would eat a little, scream and cry, then I would pump, then me or Kell would give her a bottle, then we would clean the bottle. (Usually Kell gave her the bottle so I didn't lose my sanity).

Back to the doctor we go. More medicine. Didn't work. Now just a few days ago we took her to a specialist. She is taking more intense medicine but we haven't seen much improvement yet. She is better than she used to be just due to the fact that she'd older and her body is more mature. But still, she shouldn't have to suffer like that.

And she's also doing better do to the fact that I have changed my diet. DRAMATICALLY. She has bad acid reflux which seems to be causing this pain. She has always spit up gargantuan amounts. Of course, I did my research on this one and there are some foods can cause acid reflux to be worse. Nay, A LOT of food (because some babies are also sensitive to foods that can cause allergies and make acid reflux worse) So what have I cut out of my diet? Let me make a list for you...

Dairy
Soy
Eggs
Fish
Nuts of all kinds
Wheat
Any veggies or fruits that are acidic
Anything spicy
Anything greasy
Anything extra fatty

Next time you go to eat something you should see if it falls into one of these categories. You will be surprised at how often it does. I have learned a lot about reading labels. It's way more intense than I thought.

So what does that leave me with? Meat, poultry, a few fruits and veggies, some beans, and some candy. I don't really know how I'm still alive. But if it helps Jovie, then I'll do it. And for once in my life I don't want to lose any more weight. I haven't been able to say that since middle school probably. But when I can't eat anything it makes it tricky. Even when I stuff myself all day Jovie seems to take it all out of me and more.

I can only hope that Jovie gets over this in the next few months. Tomorrow she'll be getting her first taste of food...avocado. More on that to come.