Thursday, February 07, 2008

The Great Digestion Debate

We've been doing solid food for a while now and I have some questions. I posed them to the twin club, but I thought I'd get some sage advice here as well.

C will eat most anything, but Z is a bit more discerning re: texture, temperature, color of spoon, etc. They eat two "meals" and I'm wondering what exactly I'm supposed to be feeding them. For "breakfast" they have fruit and sometimes yogurt (well, no yogurt for z. if it's not hot she's not opening her lips. one. bit) and for "dinner" they have two vegis and oatmeal (since neither will eat rice cereal). Is this normal? Should I be giving them cereal twice a day? It tends to bind them up and we had a fun night of screaming while not pooping on Monday that I'd like to never repeat. (You really don't know fun until you've physically removed poop from your baby's butt because she can't do it herself. Ask H. )

They seem to be otherwise happy and still nursing ~5-6 times a day. In other related weirdness, they will only eat cereal if it's mixed with formula and not just any formula, but the premie formula. I tried switching them to plain old similac and no one was having that. Z went on a bottle strike while I was at work and forget eating food mixed with new formula.

Oh and no one will drink from a sippy cup. The sight of the sippy cup makes Z cry and C uses hers as a teething toy. When I put them in their mouths to show them that there's liquid inside, they gag and look at me like I've offended them. I've tried putting plain water, sugar water, formula and breast milk in the sippy cups. Same looks of insanity. What should I do about this? Any thoughts? C knows exactly what to do with the cup; she grabs both handles and stuffs the spout into her mouth, but doesn't want to suck on it. Only chew it. Z wants it to go away and tosses it off the highchair tray. repeatedly. Will they ever learn to drink from a cup? Or will I be sending Z to school with a paper mache boobie in her Dora the Explorer lunch box?

*beware of picture below as it contains graphic images of obvious child neglect. Wherein I put my twins in walkers so that I can get the bathtub ready for them without listening to screams from the other room. I know, what a horrid parent I am.*

This was the other night while I was getting the bath together. Z scooted herself backwards until she could reach out and grab C's hand. They did this repeatedly and are totally fascinated with each others faces and hands now. Today I had Z in my lap and C was in her bouncy and they kept touching hands and cracking up. It's really freakin' cute.


* C is on the left and, yes, that is a phone book under her feet since the height doesn't adjust any lower and she is just a touch too short. thankfully, neither has really figured out how to move the walkers around too much. I fear the day of mobility*

3 comments:

Eva said...

Re: cereal. Because of J's allergy to rice cereal, we just never really gave any cereal. We had fewer problems than some of our friends with constipation. So I think you could cut back no problem. They say in the first year, breast milk is all they need, the other stuff is more for taste and learning to eat new things. So most people do give cereal at each meal, but there's no law that says you must.

We usually did one veggie and one fruit per meal. Fruit is great for helping poop. My doctor said all the p fruits - prunes, peaches, pears, plums.

Can't remember how old they are now. But we added cheerios, their first finger food, around 8 or 9 months. Then gradually other finger foods, and cheese. And bagels. They loved, loved, loved chewing on bagels.

Ours just chewed on sippy cups for a while. We kept offering them, and eventually they got the hang of it. I wouldn't worry about sugar water, I would just offer water and if they want it, they'll drink it. They probably need it less now with nursing so often, and it being cold. Again, can't remember their age, but mine got the hang of it around 8 months maybe?

Jeanne The Queen said...

Thanks Eva! They don't have any teeth yet, so I'm not sure about adding cheerios and finger foods yet. although, maybe soon since they are chewing on everything.

I think I'll keep doing what I've been doing. they get a vegi and avocado everynight (they looove the avocado) and maybe I'll add in peaches and plums soon. They are out of season and so I haven't given them yet. But prunes are a hit and C will eat pears no problem.

Thanks for the advice!

Kerry Lynn said...

I got my original advice from Eva as well. Thanks Eva! We can always count on you.

This is what works for us...

sippy cups: hate them...well, good for a chew toy but I offer every day and they just chew. I even bought ones that the water comes out easier so that they know what's supposed to happen but they act like the water tastes like acid. I guess we just need to keep working on it.

cheerios: jackson has no teeth yet and he does just fine with them. It's the ONLY food with a texture either of them will let past their lips, well, unless you count large pieces of lint or dust bunnies...those are all good.
they actually don't eat cheerios though. I found Kashi cereal doesn't have any sugar in it.

cereal: I make sure it's oatmeal cereal and doesn't have any white flour in it. I mix it with hot water to a normal "thickness" then I put a jar of fruit or veggies mixed in. they love it. we have no constipation issues at all.

For lunch they have cereal/veggie mix, plain whole milk yogurt (big adult container...way cheaper than yo-baby. It took them a few days to get to liking it but I gave it to them every day and now they love it), and applesauce (also the big adult container unsweetened...way cheaper than the baby food jars of applesauce)

dinner is sweet potato jar, banana jar.

if I make my own sweet potato or banana they also act like I'm feeding them acid. I don't get it.