Can a baby be bulimic?

Staying warm while mom gets his bath ready.

We tried butternut squash last night! He winced at first, but then dove right in - another big hit! I had actually given him a taste as I was making it a few days ago, and he hated it. He kind of convulsed at first, and refused a second taste. But when I ate some in front of him, he wanted more. I'll have to remember that for unpopular foods down the road. He was on a completely full stomach, but ate an entire ice cube tray cube's worth of squash, and was clamouring for more. How much am I supposed to feed him? He went crazy with the banana too. One day, I decided to rely on his cues, to see just how much he would eat if given the chance. He ate an entire banana on a full stomache, then nursed some more, then threw up. Then nursed some more. It's like he's bulimic. Then he went to bed, with this huge, swollen belly. I think it gave him nightmares or something, because he woke up screaming a few minutes later, like shrill, freaked-out kind of screams. I've never run up stairs so fast! When I picked him up, he was shaking, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. I definitely didn't want a repeat, or to have to clean up bright orange puke, so we just stopped at one cube. Besides, Doc West said this is supposed to be practice food - all of his calories should still be from milk. I have to go in next week for John's six-month check-up and shots, so hopefully he'll give me some idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm totally lost when it comes to food.

He went after my taco salad the other night. It was the farthest we've seen him fling his body. He was like a little stunt guy, flying through the air. We were eating on the bed, and Mike was done, so he was trying to hold John, who was propelling off Mike's lap, to fly to within grabbing range of my plate. He got pretty close a few times. I wonder what part he was after, or maybe he just thought it looked like fun to eat without a spoon. He isn't allowed a single thing in it yet. Under the current guidelines, he's only supposed to be eating rice and oats, if anything at all, right now. Though, maybe we should start beef sooner rather than later - it has iron, and tastes a lot better than baby cereal.

I actually found some non-fortified cereal. It's not babyfood - there's apparently no such thing as non-fortified babyfood. It's like oatmeal, only rice. It has nothing but rice in it. We tried a spoonfull, but it made him gag so badly, we stopped right there. He kind of shuddered and convulsed for a bit afterwards, and then wanted to nurse - probably to wash the taste out of his mouth. I tried eating some myself, to help things along, but it made me gag too. That trick only works for things you'd be willing to eat yourself. Either we'll mix it with fruit next time, or we'll just skip right to oatmeal. It was pretty gross.

P.S. - Mike just got his new schedule - he's scheduled for full-time until March, which is when hiring for the summer rush starts. So, I guess the slow-down is just a myth, or something they tell the new guys to thin the herd for winter. So, our plans to bring John to Dryden look a little shakey at this point. However, there's always the strike. There's a strike vote at the end of January - not a vote to accept a contract, an actual strike vote. Mike, the good Conservative he is, will be voting No of couse. He's even planning to write an anti-union speech, which I'm sure will go over very well - but he's heard through the grapevine that it will probably be a Yes vote. If so, we'll probably be on our way home at the start of February. If he says what he wants to say to the union, he'll want to skip town for a while.