Solid Food, Stinky Poop!

We are definitely getting the solids down. Michelle's tongue thrust reflex is pretty much absent though clearly that doesn't make for a cleaner eating experience. we tried some apples yesterday and she went ape shit over them. Our pediatrician actually recommends rice and veggies mostly at first so that they don't develop a "sweet tooth" early on. So as I sliced some avocado for my egg sandwich this morning, I mashed a little avocado for her. What better power food? High in fiber, rich in omega-3 fatty acids...she liked it! I think the texture was a little odd but she kept diving into the spoon for more. I have a feeling we are not going to have a finicky eater on our hands. Now a word about poop. Over the last couple weeks since introducing rice cereal, I have watched her poop transform from a benign sweet smelling, swirls of yellow, yogurt-like to something comletely ungodly. I noticed a change right away in the smell, but what I thought was bad 2 weeks ago had nothing on what she produced yesterday! As you recall, she is only pooping once every 5 days (which is NORMAL for breastfed babies) and yesterday was the day. In the five days since previous poop, her little body went from making "poopies" to making "shit". Dark brown, nasty smelling, full on scary-ass shit! Apparently the fact that her diet is still 95% breast milk is no buffer for what rice cereal and apples can do to the bowels. How can something so cute and sweet produce THAT??? The days of cute poopies are over.

And a little update on the sleep situation. I am holding strong. Two nights now of 1-2 sleep increments but she has slept in her crib. I am exhausted, but also know that this exercise in setting limits is as good for me as a parent as it is for improving her sleep situation in the long run. She slept for 4 hours initially when she went down, but after the first waking, it was every 1-2 hours after that. Finally at 4:00, I think she was just totally exhausted and slept until 7:00, a wake-up time I prefer to yesterday's "I am wide awake at 5:30, let's get this party going" routine. Two nights down. I am not broken yet.