For better....or worse.

Ady is completely stocked up for the next few weeks on homemade food. My friend Ashley said it was rewarding to make her baby's food and now I realize what she meant. It IS rewarding. I know exactly what I'm putting into my baby's body and knowing that I made it for her is exciting :) I decided yesterday to make it ALL up and freeze. It took me a while, but worth it. I stocked the freezer up. And made a HUGE mess :)

We started her on solid food at 4.5 months. "Some" say it's too early. "Some" say it's fine. If I've learned anything through this "experience", it's you can't make your baby be a textbook. "Oh if you do Babywise, your baby will sleep through the night" "Oh don't start solids, they'll get allergies." And, "Oh, if you stop nursing your baby will get sick." Geez. I'm so sick of it. But, really it was the same with pregnancy. People that freaked if you ate something you weren't "supposed" to. I think the reality is, we're a culture living in fear and living on what might happen.

Ady NEEDED to start solids because of her spitting. She loved the sweet potatoes. LOVED them. Hated avocadoes, but then again so did I. She's been getting apple juice, so I thought for sure homemade applesause would be fine, but I've noticed that the past 3 days she's been super fussy and arching her back again in pain She has a precious personality, but I do believe she's been hurting. My mind flashed back to months ago when I was crying everyday trying to deal with a baby that just screamed all day out in pain. It's strange that the juice didn't bother her, but this did. I assume it must be the dilution of the juice and other "ingredients" in it.

Moral of the story: for now, no more apples. I did read on a website they can be acidic. Can be? You either ARE acidic, or you're not. Ady may actually not be able to eat fruits for a while. They seem to upset her tummy. And the past 3 days she's spit MASSIVE amounts, much more than usual. Makes me wonder since the spitting had basically STOPPED with sweet potatoes .

I love her. She's precious and so happy. But, poor little girl has had a tough time since she was born.
She is having a horrible time sleeping at night. Horrible. I'm up about every 30 min-an hour from about 3:00 on. She cat naps and it's getting worse. But, I'm wondering if it's not from the recent apple escapade. I did read that GER babies have very difficult time sleeping because of the acid coming back up. The Nutramagien (lactose free formula) with the Prevacid is helpful, but I guess it's not a cure :(. In the hope that my story will help someone else. (Because, let's face it. You may say "My baby won't have that". But...you never know!), I'm going to write a book or an article on it. It was such a struggle, so hard to understand why all she did was scream. I'd like to know that I could maybe help someone else going through it.

We've had to make "lifestyle changes". And I say that loosely. Nothing drastic. I just know, for example, I can't put her immediately in car after a feeding. The pressure on her tummy is too great. I know that she needs to get her medicine with plenty of time after a feeding so she won't spit it and plenty of time before the next feeding so it'll help. Can't place her flat, burp often during feedings, etc. All in a days work I suppose!

Loving my miracle, though. She was worth the long road to bring her into this world and she's been worth the weeks I've "tried to forget" that all we BOTH did was scream (really, I just cried, but you get the point). Hoping after today's green beans, there won't be any more squirmy bubbles, burps, and pains for a while. Actually, how about forever?


Stay tuned, readers. Mommy's going to write a book!