My day with Doodle Bug

As I have noted before, I keep Doodle Bug during the day while her mom works. She will be six months old on the 20th of this month.

Do you know the joy of keeping a 5 month old who refuses the bottle? Can you imagine the battles in which we engage? She really doesn't eat any solid food either. Perhaps she will eat a few spoonfuls of her rice cereal, but that's about it!

When I was keeping her before Christmas, I came to the brilliant conclusion that since she didn't take a bottle, perhaps she would take a "sippy cup." What did I have to lose? Absolutely nothing!

I bought a beginning sippy cup. It is like most with two exceptions. It has a longer spout, and it has no flow restrictor. DB loves it! I would bring it close and she would open her mouth which was unlike her reaction to the bottle. She would turn her head to the bottle - that is unless she wanted to chew on the nipple.

The only problem with this sippy cup is that she loves it so much. She grabs the handles which means I no longer have control. Then she will turn the cup up and almost drowns on the milk. Not exactly what I want. But she would actually get some nourishment into her little tummy.

Yesterday was her first day back with me after a ten day lapse. Mom didn't bring any milk. She did bring more rice cereal. I still had a month's supply!

When nap time came, DB was sleepy and grumpy. I had NO way to soothe her. You see, Mom nurses her to sleep. She screamed. She has a new cry. A shrill one. I heard it for an hour.

She fell asleep. I was so delighted. The delight soon ended however. Her blanket was across the room. She loves to be swaddled. She wasn't.

I retrieved the blanket and headed to the bedroom where her bed is. I placed her on my bed to begin the swaddling procedure. She got her arms out. Oh mercy! By the time I put her in her bed she was awake. She was having no part of this.

I took her back into the den. I mixed some rice cereal. I got three spoonfuls into her. She played for about another hour. Then, she was tired. Still. Again.

We sat and I tried to soothe her to sleep. Another hour of crying punctuated by phone calls. Can you imagine people actually trying to talk to me with a baby screaming in my other ear?

She finally went to sleep after about another hour of screaming. Guess who came in the door? Mom. I wanted to hit my own daughter.