Every year around this time my husband's family gets together for a family reunion. We rent out a park and all of its cabins for a weekend. This year was much different than normal. We are parents now. We stayed in a cabin with his aunt and uncle. They are also new parents. Their daughter just turned one. All in all, there were three new babies at the cabins this year. Ours, theirs, and a cousins son, who is 7 months (just a month younger than my daughter).
We recently started feeding Maddy solid foods (well, 2 months ago, that is). It has not been going well... at all. She cries and screams and makes a totaly mess until I finally give up and she gets her way. Because it is sooooo hard to feed her and because I hate making her cry, she usually only gets fed once or twice a day. So while at the cabins, I ask these new moms how feeding is going. They say "great!" I think to myself "yeah, sure. That's what I tell people too!" Then I proceed to watch them feed their babies. The babies open their mouths and actually EAT THE FOOD! I had no idea that this was even possible for a baby their age!
This gets me thinking. If they can do it, I can too! So I make a plan, I will feed Maddy, and she will like it... not so much. The morning I attempt my first feeding (with other people around) does not go well. I sit her in the Bumbo on top of the table. Their are so many people around moving and doing different things. She is too distracted, so I take drastic measures. I take her and the food and the seat into the bathroom and close the door. I tell myself we are not leaving until she eats!
So here I am sitting on the bathroom floor trying to feed my baby, while these other moms casually feed their babies with no problems. I am now wondering if it is such a bad thing that my daugher doesn't want to eat. Before they are a year old, food is not for nourishment anyways, right? Is it really such a bad thing that she just wants breastmilk? She is growing just fine. She is at the top of the charts for weight. I will continue my battle with food, but I am not going to stress if she hates it. We will continue trying new things to get her to eat, but I am not going to force it on her. She will eat. Everyone eats!
