girlfiend

Because I’m obsessive and he’s only nursing twice a day which means he’s getting the bulk of his nutrition through real food I made a list of all of the foods the Fiendling eats and categorized them into things he loves, things he eats regularly, things he eats on occasion, and things that have passed his lips voluntarily on one occasion only. I won’t bore you with the whole list but I’ll tell you that Cheddar Bunnies and cookies fall into the first category,  Hot and Sour soup and hamburger fall into the last category, various fruits, vegetables, breads, pastas and rices fall into the middle categories. It’s a pretty long list, but considering that in a given day he mostly just eats string cheese, crackers and bananas and throws everything else to the floor it’s no wonder that I’ve become a mother who obsesses over what her son eats.

I probably wouldn’t be so obsessed if his iron levels were higher. They were low enough that he needs to take a supplement twice daily for three months which is pretty common- that’s why they test for it- but makes me feel like a failure nonetheless. I want to blame it on the six month appointment. Our regular pediatrician wasn’t in and we had to see a different one. She didn’t tell me to give him the multi-vitamin with iron so I assumed I didn’t have to even though I’d read that breastfed babies often need iron supplements. No one told me. But I should have asked our regular doctor at the nine month appointment which basically makes it my fault.

The iron supplements taste like ass.  Actually, they don’t. They taste like you’d expect them to- like metal - and they leave a nasty metallic tasting residue on sippy cups and hands. The drops also temporarily stain teeth. Charming, right? The Fiendling hates them and I don’t blame him. This is where the food obsession comes into play. To avoid the drops I’ve been attempting to slip iron into his diet through food. I’ve been cooking in cast iron, I’ve made farina stix and the recipe for farina muffins on the box (which are absolutely vile- do not even attempt them), I’ve mixed the drops into orange juice, I’ve tried mixing rice cereal into other foods and I’ve even tried giving him red meat a few times.

I’ve been foiled at every attempt. The kid is smarter than I am and won’t touch anything that will boost his iron naturally. So twice a day, carefully timed because dairy interferes with absorption and he can’t have dairy less than an hour before or less than two hours after taking the drops, I force the dropper to the back of his mouth and hope he doesn’t spit out too much of it. It sucks.

Finally, thanks to the help of the super-fantastic posthipchick,  I made something he’ll eat- Full-Meal Muffins. They’re vegan and smell terrible uncooked, but they’re surprisingly tasty once baked. Most importantly they’re healthy and full of iron. And amazingly he’s eaten them two days in a row.

Since I’m talking about food I should admit that since I’ve been on this mostly vegetarian diet I’ve gained 3 or 4 pounds. Awesome, right? I eat healthier and GAIN weight.