My daughter has had a well-documented struggle to drink milk of any type. Since the allergy specialist told me to give her soy formula, I have offered it to her every day, despite rejection every time for 4mths. It was easy to be frustrated at the wasted formula and money (I think most of the first tin of formula went down the drain) but looking back, my perseverance paid off.
Earlier this month we had a breakthrough. 60ml as a drink was a huge deal. Now, almost a month on from that, she is drinking 200-300ml a day! We praise God for this and are really glad we persevered. 4 months (when you look back) isn't so long and it is worth it for the result. She's looking a bit chubbier (in a good, healthy baby kind of way - she's a slim girl) and seems to be more content.
Another story of perseverance to success was with her vitamin supplement. It's a liquid and doesn't taste particularly nice. When we first gave it to her, she screamed, cried etc. It would have been much easier to give up. But we calmly gave it to her each day (unlike the milk, we actually made her have the vitamins) and now she happily takes it. It's just part of the routine. Worth persevering.
So, if your child needs to have something, I encourage you to persevere with your plan and not let your child take control. They don't always know/like what's best and it will get easier over time.
I totally agree with this. Although not related to allergies, my son refused to take any formula or cow's milk for a long time. I continued breastfeeding at least one-two feeds a day for longer than intended because I was worried about his dairy intake. I continued to offer just a little bit of milk (cow's milk from about 11 months) with every morning and afternoon tea and he continued to spit it out or throw it off the highchair for a couple of months. He is finally now drinking one cup of milk per day (as well as having cheese and yoghurt and milk on cereal) so I have been able to wean him last week! Perseverance did pay off!
ReplyDeleteHi Julie - well done! It will be nice for you to be free from feeding for a little while before the baby comes too (well, I enjoyed it!). It's so nice not to worry about their nutrition too isn't it!
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