Trip Home From Colorado

NO BOTTLES IN THE CAR was our motto for the trip home. So, about 3 hours into our drive home we stopped at a Wendy's and got out to eat a late dinner. I ate while Kevin fed Kinley her bottle of Pediasure and Kevin was able to get Kinley to take all 8 oz. Then it was my turn to watch Kinley as Kevin ate. Well, before Kevin was even able to order his dinner Kinley sent all 8 oz of Pediasure back up, right in the dining room of the Wendy's. Kevin and I felt bad for Kinley and also for the people around who had to witness the ordeal. The other guests were really nice and brought several napkins over to us to try and help, but there was a lot to clean up. I took Kinley to the bathroom and undressed her, washed her off as best I could, then changed her clothes while Kevin attended to the mess that Kinley left on the floor. We just tossed her outfit, bib and burp cloth and left Wendy's as soon as we could. We later went through the drive thru because in our hast to clean up and get out of there we forgot that Kevin still had not gotten a chance to eat. I decided to try and give Kinley a few Goldfish crackers in the car a little later since she basically missed dinner, but stayed away from any other bottles for the rest of the trip. I felt bad not giving her anything else to drink, but we had a long drive ahead of us still and we could not keep stopping to feed her just to have her throw it all up again. Luckily Kinley cooperated and slept for most of the drive that we had left. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful.

When we did arrive home the next morning Kinley was starving. She ate better than we had seen her eat in a long time and drank more than 8 oz of milk from her sippy cup. (Kinley's sippy cups are 8 oz and we had to refill the cup during her feeding.) Anyway, from that point on Kinley has really taken off with her table foods and sippy cups. We haven't touched a bottle since we got home because Kinley is drinking so well out of her sippy cups during the day!! She has also been trying new foods or accepting old foods that we haven't been able to get her to eat in a while. Some of those old foods include applesauce, cheese, freeze dried fruit, french toast sticks and yogurt. Some of the new foods Kinley has tried include grilled cheese sandwich, sliced chicken deli meat sandwich, animal crackers, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The trick to getting Kinley to eat any sandwich is to cut it up and feed it to her, one bite at a time, on a fork. She is also getting better at feeding herself with a spoon.

Kevin and I are thrilled with Kinley's progress. We are a lot happier now that she is eating better and she seems to be a lot happier also. We don't dread mealtimes anymore and that is really nice for a change.