These eating problems have both Tony and I at the end our ropes. We don't know what we need to do to help Harper, and when we feed her now it's a fight. She has gotten to the point where she will hit the bottle away, put her hand in front of her face, or swat at the hand trying to feed her (thankfully, no biting- ha). Harper's new thing is to wrap her legs around your arm, like she's trying to climb a fireman's pole, and just start screaming and crying.
Not only is this frustrating, the girl MUST eat, but it is also emotionally draining. I feel like we're hurting her. When she does eat (which she eats some from every bottle- haven't had one yet that's totally refused to take), she gets a far away look in her eye and then chugs the whole bottle. It's almost like we're asking her to take a great big dose of nasty medicine so she goes to her "happy place" to get it all down.
We were concerned with her eating when she came home. We were frustrated with her eating when she wouldn't take more than her minimum required. We are now beside ourselves because we don't know what to do to help this little girl. It takes everything I have to feed her some days. I know she has to eat and she need the nutrition, but watching her heart break when she sees the bottle, and holding this girl with a beautiful smile who turns into a crying mess as you lean down to feed her, that is rough. There have been nights when Tony and I have switched back and forth because we were both so worn down, worn out, worn through.
Please say a prayer that we can get Harper into the feeding clinic ASAP; we need them to call and set something up. We've been waiting four days and I don't want to wait four more.
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