Oh, Grace...

A Korean friend of mine came over today to finally meet Grace. It's always funny to see Korean friends' reactions to our little (um...big) mixed baby. "Oh, she's so beautiful!" "Oh, look at her white skin!" "Beautiful eyes!" Recently Sejin threw Grace on his shoulder to go grab some garbage bags and a woman came running saying, "Oh, a foreign baby!" Sejin was like, "Uh, no she's Korean actually." She was born here after all. She doesn't even look that 'foreign' to me. She just looks like a baby...maybe 'cause I'm her mom.

Anyway, we ordered a pizza and got up-to-date with each other. I put Grace for a nap (all swaddled up as she likes! Using this new technique which uses two blankets for larger babies...it's awesome!) and Juyeon and I decided to slip out to Myeong-dong for a couple of hours. Sejin was supportive of this.

Unfortunately, when Grace woke up and realized I wasn't there, she was none too happy. She has been refusing a bottle for a couple of months now (containing breast milk or formula, with any type of nipple), although she has taken a few ounces a couple of times when I wasn't around. Today she would have none of it and instead screamed for poor Sejin.

I checked my cell phone when Juyeon and I stopped for a coffee and realized I had missed three calls: Sejin. So I call him and it sounds like the calm after the storm. "Could you please come home now? Yes, she's okay, for now. How long will you take?"

I cut coffee short and headed home, having been gone less than three hours. Oh, Grace, you're going to keep me close to home for a while, aren't you?

So for the last hour I've been reading online about getting babies to accept bottles. After all that reading I have resolved not to stress about it too much. I don't go out alone too often and it's not like I'm returning to work full time or something. However it would be nice to know she would eat something if I had to leave for an entire day (a commercial shoot or something). On askdrsears.com, he mentions that if baby has been started on solids and enjoys them, this can substitute for milk while mom is away once in a while.

Coincidentally, I started giving Grace a bit of rice cereal a few days ago. I did so after thinking about it for a while. She never seems satisfied after feeding anymore and she's getting huge (18 lbs at 5 months). Then I was reading in Babysense and The Baby Whisperer that if a heavy baby over 4 months can't go longer than 4 hours between feeding, doesn't seem satisfied, and watches you eat often, then they might need a bit extra fuel, and you can probably try solids. I'm also taking Gina Ford's advice and only giving the cereal after she's finished a milk feed, since milk is still most important.

Anyway, I ordered some stage one Gerber rice cereal and experimented three days ago. That feed was very bewildering to her, but she did okay. She tried eating it, although a lot ended up on the bib. Yesterday she did a little better. Then tonight before bed we had a bit more and she finished the whole bowl (maybe two tablespoons) without wasting much! She couldn't wait for the next spoonful. A lot of fun.

After the first cereal: