Feeding Strike! Again! Ugh!

When Carder isn't feeling well, the first thing he does is slow down on his bottle feedings.  This had been happening and Carder just wasn't acting himself.  He was fussy and pulling at his ears a lot.  He also was suffering from a very stuffy nose that was filled with bloody boogies every morning.  (Reading between the lines, sleep also deteriorated at this point).  So, on Monday 4/16/12, I took him to the Pediatrician to see if perhaps he had an ear infection or if he was suffering from allergies or another virus.

The Ped looked him over and said that his ears were fine.  He didn't rule out allergies and suggested children's Zyr.tec.  He also suggested that perhaps we were working on some teeth and that would explain the ear tugging.

By Wednesday 4/18/12, Carder was flat out refusing the bottle again.  And when I say refusing, I don't mean that he just turns his nose up at the bottle when it is offered.  I am talking back arching, screaming, wiggling to get out of Mommy's arms refusal.  After struggling to see inside his mouth and almost losing an eye to see it a quick glance at his gums, it was apparent that he was working on getting his upper left Maxillary tooth.  A few google searches later and Dr. Mommy had concluded that since this tooth was much bigger than the bottom, it could be the culprit for our refusal to eat.  After all, the bottom teeth caused the bottle rejection issue - for a week at a time.

But this time, he was refusing to let us get fluids into him through our normal means of a straw or syringe.  At least he was taking a water from sippy cup.  So we upped his solids feedings to 4 times a day with larger servings.  We had gone to my in-laws for a visit with them, Derek's sister, and Derek's grandfather for the weekend. But Carder was too interested in the new surroundings and all the people to drink anything.  We left shortly after arriving for fear that another trip to the ER for fluids was in our future. (Luckily, we have avoided that so far.)

Since he didn't do well with his sippy cup at Day Care, we were afraid to send him.  My MIL came to stay with him while I went to work.  After 7 days of refusing the bottle, we had also added waking up SCREAMING to our list of symptoms.  On Wednesday (4/25/12) we returned to the Pediatricians office.  This time he was diagnosed with a double ear infection on top of the teething.  Carder got some antibiotics and some ear drops. *

Thankfully, the screaming at night has stopped.  But, he still is sleeping like absolute shit.  And even worse?  He used to go down for bed at around 8ish at night.  Since Sunday (4/29/12), he has been fighting bedtime terribly.  He will fall asleep in my arms and when I go to lie him in the crib, he wakes up, flips over, and stands up in his crib.  Sunday night it was 10:00 before he finally went down for the night.  Monday was a little better with him finally drifting off at 9:30.  Tuesday night was another 9:30 night.  And once he reaches that “overtired” point, he is clingy and wired.  We tried lying him down to see if he just needed some alone time.  Nope - he stands in his crib and jumps up and down.  He squeals with delight when you open the door to check on him.  It is like he is all hyped up on sugar or something.  I broke down and bought some room darkening curtains for his room to see if that would help (no such luck yet). 
Once he finally goes down, his nighttime sleeping has recently involved waking up as frequently as hourly.  Usually I get things taken care of (laundry, eating dinner, spending time with Derek, having a few minutes of “me” time) after he goes to bed.  The last few nights, after hours of rocking and soothing my sweet little boy to sleep, I plop down and stare into space like a zombie – absolutely spent.

But sleeping isn’t our only problem.  In addition, he is still refusing the bottle (that is for 2 weeks straight now, just in case you lost count).  I absolutely abhor, detest, cringe at the thought of offering him the bottle right now - the screaming and throwing himself around to avoid the bottle is terrible.  Maddening, even.  I am so afraid that he is going to throw himself back and slam his head into the arm of the chair or fall to the floor.  It totally stresses me out and I dread every bottle offered.  It’s just a waste of formula at this point.  (And that crap is too expensive to waste!)  And making sure he gets enough fluid is like an all day marathon.  And you have to make sure you don't let him know you are stressed about how much he is drinking (or the lack thereof) or he will refuse to take the sippy. **

I am taking him back to the pediatrician this evening to see if his ears are cleared up or if we are still battling both ear infections and teething at the same time.  Hopefully this will end soon.***

Needless to say, I am – once again – exhausted.  This explains my blogging/commenting absence.  (And why his 10 month post was posted today.  Without any pictures.) 

*We have tried Tyle.nol and Ibupro.phen for the pain.  Ora.jel, too.  None seem to help a bit.  At least the stuffy nose/bloody boogies has cleared up.

**We have also tried small plastic cups, ped.ialyte, juice, and all temperatures of formula in the sippy cup.  The only thing he is "drinking" is water.

***I am afraid that due to his age, this is "the end" of our bottle feeding days and that he may never pick up the bottle again.  If only I had known, I would have savored that last bottle.  Every last second of it...