Tube wean, Day 4, 5, and 6

Generally speaking, when challenging Prince Jacob... be prepared. As Jacob's grandpa says in situations like these; "... you better get up early in the morning and eat a BIG breakfast."

Stinker.

This is a really rough summary (lots of details in between the lines).... but I wanted to get a summary in.

Let's start with the good news. There *is* good news that even we have to often remind ourselves when patience wanes and frustration threatens to sneak in. Really good amazing news.

Jacob has discovered drinking.

Prior to last Monday, Jacob would take one sip...maybe two from a sippy cup. And even then, 90 percent of the time said sippy cup was held to his mouth by someone else. All other fluids went through his tube just as his food did. On Day 2 of this venture, just last Wednesday, he figured out how to make the sippy cup work himself, largely for the first time (see video in previous post). Since then he has relentlessly been practicing (amazing) and capture has gotten better. It's still not 100% but the balance of stuff going in vs going on his shirt has shifted significantly.

The practice in patience is about the food. We have gotten almost nowhere with food.

We have offered food, eh that's ok...

We have played with food, that's fun...

But we have gotten very little food in. We had one good lunch session on Day 4 but very little since then.

Over the last few days we are pretty sure Jacob has been convinced that this new hunger (feeling yucky) situation can be corrected by waiting his parents out and/or manipulating them to fix it without him having to put in any effort. We have watched Jacob emplore several strategies...

Day 4 started like this...

... and pretty much continued with the same attitude. When grandma came to visit, he wouldn't even look at her because he was *so* droopy and she was in the camp needing to be manipulated.

And if lying prostrate on the floor and looking like the droopiest bug ever all day doesn't work (torture to watch), the opposite strategy might work. The oh-are-you-not-going-feed-me?-do-you-think-I-care?-look-how-totally-fine-I-am strategy.

With only the bare minimal amount of nutrition (bare minimal!), this is what Day 5 looked like...

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(I know this happy face covered with food looks promising but trust us, not one bit went in.)

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End of the day... still going strong. See, mommy and daddy, I don't have to eat... I'm FINE.

OK

Day 6. Something happened. While he has been practicing with the sippy cup since Day 2 and seeming to like it, it had still sort of been practice. Much more robust practice than before but still kinda just testing it out. He'd do a decent amount in any sitting... but hard to say how much.

By the morning of Day 6, his parents seemed undaunted (little does he know the torment on our insides) and he was mad. Mad, Mad, Mad. Big time hungry and MAD. Here starts the screaming. And as hard as it was, Jacob's parents took a deep breath and left screaming mad Jacob on the floor with his toys and a sippy cup full of milk... and left the room. That's it kiddo. Sink or swim.

He swam.

Screaming continued. But low and behold, little hands reached for the sippy and...

Jacob drank. And drank and drank and drank. All day. We estimate he got 14 ounces of milk down. 14 ounces!

And that, my friends, is a BIG deal. Yes, we still have to figure out food. But drinking is a mighty fine start to sustain yourself (milk mustache and all).

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Bottoms up!

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