http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV_br7u5iY4&sns=em
The next step (which she warned me not to try alone as it may be very emotional, and Ramsey and I would need each other for support) was to try turning off Gracie's feeds on Saturday and continuously offer her the bottle, baby food, etc. I was nervous, but excited. I promised to to "catch her up" on anything she did not take orally during her evening bolus feeds and night feeds. Game on.
And Gracie ROCKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!! She drank a total of 45cc's and at about 2-3TBS of banana baby food over the course of the day. The best part was, she was interested in food! She was actually hungry! And she really was not fussy, although she was giving some normal feeding cues. She tired quickly with the bottle and eventually just took to napping, so we hooked her up to the feeding pump by about 5pm. What a great start! I was texting with our OT all day and she was thrilled and, quite frankly, surprised. But I knew Gracie could do it. I just knew that something had changed. She is ready!
We tried the same routine on Sunday which also went well, although G was not as hungry as she had "eaten" a lot over the course of the night since her food was back-logged. I heard back from our GI doc's nurse today and they are very supportive. I am to keep her feeds normal for the next two days (80ml 4 X day and 41ml/hr for 10 hours at night) while we try increasing her calories to a 26 calorie diet (we fortify my breast milk with a bit of formula). When I call them on Wednesday to report on how Gracie handles this, they will have the math done to start a slow wean. It's really a hunger wean. So I am betting that there will be ups and downs, good days and bad. But I am so excited! It's a step toward freedom! Go Gracie, go!!!