Mommy is a failure…

I feel like a failure. After two more unsuccessful attempts at solids last night and this morning, A and I decided that we would let the daycare teachers give it a go. On her form this morning I specifically wrote out the instructions for them to mix three tablespoons of cereal with four tablespoons of breastmilk. Later this morning, Miss I, Bryleigh’s primary caregiver, called me at work to let me know that Bryleigh ate her entire bowl of rice cereal.

She said, “You actually have to put the spoon in her mouth; she won’t take it on her own.” Well duh. What does she think I am? Some kind of idiot?

I replied (in a nicer tone of voice than this is going to sound), “Miss I, we have been putting in her mouth, but she just keeps spitting it out with us!”

She just said, “Oh.”

So then she said that they made it thicker, and I asked her what ratio they used, but of course she said that they don’t measure. She said she mixed a bowl of cereal with half of Bryleigh’s bottle. That sounds like way too much to me, but Miss I said that Bryleigh even took the remainder of the bottle afterward and then promptly fell asleep! I am going to talk to the pediatrician about this because it sounds like way too much food to me. Then again, she’s supposed to be having more calories now that she’s six months olds, and after a liquid diet for six months, anything is really going to sound like a lot, but maybe she needs it. I just don’t know.

Anyway, now I feel like an utter failure. I mean, I followed the directions from the American Academy of Pediatrics and from our own pediatrician to a tee for a week to no avail, and these daycare teachers come in and try it one time and Bryleigh eats it right up? I keep telling myself that I’m new to this and that they’re the pros—they’ve seen it all. That really doesn’t do me much good, though. When it comes down to it, I tried and failed.

I’m going to see if I can get her to eat any of it tonight maybe. I’m not sure if she’s supposed to have it more than once a day, actually. My books came in from the library, though: Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron (who is not a doctor, so I’m reading this with a grain of salt just because it’s the most popular right now), and Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health, by Susan B Roberts PhD and Melvin B Heyman MD (which is supposed to be the best scientifically).