Well, I did hear back from the nurse at our GI doc's office and she was very supportive and great about listening to my observations on Gracie's progress. First off, I convinced her that fortifying my milk with Good Start was not so good for Gracie. Her tummy has been SO much better without it. So much better, in fact, that she had an AMAZING day on Friday. I barely used the tube AT ALL. That is how much better her tummy feels! She drank most of her morning bottle, a full 80- cc's at noon and three pm and then a good portion of her evening bottle, although we were both pretty tired by that point. What a day!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention that we met some friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe near our house (Brownie's by Fry's). It is finally nice enough to sit outside and there aren't many people around there so it is a perfect outing! Yay!
So anyway, the nurse was so excited by this news that we made a plan to really start weaning this weekend. Step one- reduce her night feeds. I cut them in half, pretty much, so she would be hungry in the morning. Gracie grazed all day yesterday, but she just wasn't super hungry. For any of us, this is normal- some days you want to eat more than others. I need to keep this in mind and try not worry too much throughout this process. Ramsey and I "caught her up" just a little with last night's night feed so the new sensation of hunger is gradually introduced. I mean, teaching Gracie what hunger is is like trying to explain the color red to a blind person. It has been a foreign concept until recently.
So far so good today- Gracie had 50 cc's at 9am and 60 cc's at noon. Eventually we want her to take 4-6 ounces at each feed, so we are on our way! We also bought a baby scale as we will be focusing on her weight rather than obsessing over every ml (can you tell how good I will be about that? ha!). I will call the doc twice a week with a weight check. Ramsey and I are excited, tired, and SO PROUD of Gracie. She is just doing an awesome job :) More soon!
So anyway, the nurse was so excited by this news that we made a plan to really start weaning this weekend. Step one- reduce her night feeds. I cut them in half, pretty much, so she would be hungry in the morning. Gracie grazed all day yesterday, but she just wasn't super hungry. For any of us, this is normal- some days you want to eat more than others. I need to keep this in mind and try not worry too much throughout this process. Ramsey and I "caught her up" just a little with last night's night feed so the new sensation of hunger is gradually introduced. I mean, teaching Gracie what hunger is is like trying to explain the color red to a blind person. It has been a foreign concept until recently.
So far so good today- Gracie had 50 cc's at 9am and 60 cc's at noon. Eventually we want her to take 4-6 ounces at each feed, so we are on our way! We also bought a baby scale as we will be focusing on her weight rather than obsessing over every ml (can you tell how good I will be about that? ha!). I will call the doc twice a week with a weight check. Ramsey and I are excited, tired, and SO PROUD of Gracie. She is just doing an awesome job :) More soon!