my little hobbit.

Ruthe's gastroenterologist (GI doctor, for her g-tube) recently changed the way we feed her.  Ok, so I might possibly have been feeding her less than she's supposed to be getting - but she stopped spitting up after every meal, so I figured it evened itself out.  The whole story is long and boring and involves a lot of math, but basically after I weaned her off the pump she lost the equivalent of one feeding.  So her GI doc said that we need to get another full-volume feeding into her schedule.  That means waking up extra early for me, and a whole new round of spit up for the baby.

I used to feed her about 175 mLs every four hours - at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm.  It took about an hour to feed her (on a good day) but she was doing really well and tolerating all the force-feeding really well.  The thing about having a baby who's been tube-fed for her entire life is that she really has no idea what it means, or feels like, to be hungry.

Since her visit to the doctor last week I've been trying to squeeze another feeding into Ruthe's day.  It's not really that hard, but it's altered our schedule quite dramatically.  Especially the waking up part...  this is what her schedule looks like now:

7am -- breakfast + meds
11am -- second breakfast
3pm -- lunch
7pm -- dinner + meds
11pm -- elevensies

Because I think her doctor is training her to become a hobbit, and eat seven times a day.