Going to Bed Hungry

My daughter had a huge snack one afternoon this past week. My wife says she almost ate her weight in goldfish crackers. Trouble was when dinner time came around a couple hours later, my little one only ate a little bit of her food. I did my best to get her to take as much as she could handle, but evidently there was still a goldfish glut.

The rest of the evening went on uneventfully until bedtime. I put my daughter down at the usual time, but she wouldn't calm down. Since my wife and I are used to different bedtime troubles with our daughter, we went through the usual routine. First we checked her gums, and they were swollen. She's teething so we thought that was keeping her up. So we gave her some ibuprophen. She still fussed. So we checked her diaper again. Nope. Then we thought maybe she had some gas or indigestion. I got a warm bean bag for her tummy. Still no sleep. Finally my wife and I gave up and brought our daughter into our bed. She refused to go to sleep and continued to fuss.

Sometimes when so many different things can go wrong with a child you can't see the forest for the trees. Finally, it dawned on us that she was probably hungry. Sure enough after a bottle of Pediasure, we put her down and she went out like a light. I believe this marks the first time ever when my daughter has actually cried for food. Maybe that's why it didn't dawn on me sooner. It used to be that she would cry when I did try to give her food. Thankfully those days are gone.

I felt bad I hadn't realized sooner what the cause of her crying was. Most 21 month old children can simply tell their parents they're hungry. I guess I'll have to be more on my toes.